Technician's Order!
by Worldbringer of Joseun
Summary: In between being a hero and searching for a way to get to Saber, Shirou Emiya got a job as a technician at Chaldeas Security Organization. What is not to like? Very good pay, help save the world, and use his abilities as both a repairman and a magus. It has all the advantages he could want. Too bad his Spiritron Dive ability is too low to be a Master while others fight in Fuyuki.
1. Checklist 1: Prevent Machinery Failure

**Technician's Order!**

 **Checklist Item 1: Prevent Machinery from Failure at the Worst Possible Moment**

 _Chaldea, Antarctica_

"So, Senpai, you won't be able to make a trip back this year?"

Shirou shook his head and spoke, "Sorry Sakura, I really want to but Chaldea is about to enter a new phase of operations, so they want everyone that can to attend."

"Oh," the phone went quiet for a bit. "I can lay some flowers on Illya's grave for you if you would like."

"Thanks Sakura," Shirou smiled, if a touch bitterly. "Could you do some white lilies again? I think she would like it. When I get back, I'll put some new ones on."

"Of course, Senpai. I'll get a bouquet for her and ask the flower shop to keep some on hand," A pause and then, she continued with a tinge of hope, "Do you know when you'll get back?"

"I don't know. I could have a plane ticket for next week if nothing goes wrong or it could be several months," Shirou sighed before changing the subject. It wouldn't be good for his employment contract if he breached the confidentiality agreements. "I may have mentioned this before but thank you Sakura. Thanks for being friends with my little sister."

"No problem Senpai. We had a lot of similarities. It was easy to be befriended by her."

"Yeah, Illya is that type of person, isn't she? But, I've been wondering for a while, what similarities did you two have? I know you both were cute and that we frequently ate breakfast and dinner together, but your personalities are almost opposite of each other." Shirou tilted his head and asked. He had been wondering about that for a few years.

"S-S-Sen-Senpai!" Sakura protested aloud even as Taiga broke out of her funk to roar with laughter from the other side of the phone. "You- You can't just say that! Not so suddenly like that!"

"What? Is it private? If so, I'm sorry, you don't have to share." Shirou apologized.

"S-share! B-But I don't know if I'm ready for that yet! At-at least, let the first time be a private one. Just you and me…" Sakura stammered as Taiga's laughter redoubled and now had an accompaniment of a steady pounding sound like she was hitting the ground in her mirth. "A-and what about Saber! I thought you weren't over her yet!"

"Saber? What does Saber have to do with both of you? Did the three of you stumble over a secret treasure or something at my house? Actually, were you, Illya and Saber even at my house at the same time?"

"No… unless Saber also found the elementary school pictures…" Sakura took a deep breath and exhaled. "Senpai, what are you talking about?"

"I was just wondering about why you and Illya got along so well," Shirou paused and continued. "And did Taiga bring out the old scrapbooks again?"

"Oh," Sakura said in one of the most disappointed tones that he had ever heard from her. She must have really liked Illya for the brief time she was here. Then again, Shirou realized as he frowned, it wasn't like Sakura had any other friends.

"Sorry Sakura," he simply said.

"Sorry? Sorry for what, Senpai?"

"It must be hard on you to be reminded of the death of one of your few friends. Is there anything that I can get for you, when I return?"

"No. Just having you home again would be enough," Sakura admitted. "I miss you Senpai."

"Yeah, it will be nice to see you and Taiga and Issei again."

"Senpai…"

Shirou glanced at the clock. His break was about to finish in 10 minutes and he had to get back over to Platform R-17 to confirming that the all of the lights and monitors were operational. He wanted to get that task completed before moving onto anything else.

"Um, Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"I've got to go soon so I'll call again next week okay? Sooner, if I get the chance. Is there anything you need? Money for Taiga's food or any spices?"

"No, we're fine. Just be safe and happy Senpai. That's all I'll ever need."

Shirou chuckled. "You're a good friend Sakura. Thank you and see you soon."

"See you again Senpai."

"See you later Shirou!" Taiga interjected. "And make sure to bring back some pastries again!"

"Bye Taiga." Shirou hung up the landline phone back into its receptacle before turning around, grabbing his bag from off the circular table, and leaving the breakroom.

Shirou had been working here at Chaldea for a tad over three years now. The remote Antarctician research post, with the only entrance at 6000 meters above sea level, was buried into the mountain. Here mages, scientists, and workers gathered for a single purpose. The continuation of mankind.

As he strode past the plants into the corridor, just before he turned a whiff of decay, smoke, and something alien, something foreign to man came through.

"Professor Lainur," Shirou greeted as he turned down the hallway towards the person standing there. Although, it was strange that the smell was stronger than usual. He must have been at one of the workshops recently. "How are you today?"

"Shirou, I'm doing well. How are you?" Lev Lainur nodded in greeting. He continued his walk forward and Shirou fell in step with him.

"I'm doing very well. Just had a phone call home," Shirou greeted in return. He cocked his head, "Is there something that needs fixing?"

"Well, a good snack wouldn't go amiss but since we are about to begin Rayshifting practical applications, I would just like to have one of our best technicians standing by at the central powerplant." Lev chuckled before returning to serious. "It's just in case. We wouldn't want anything to befall our Master candidates in the middle of the Rayshift practicals."

"Well, I'm not sure that I am one of the best. I mean Kallen Sayward is much better than me at ensuring smooth prana flows across machinery."

Lev nodded. "I've already asked him, but he doesn't respond well to surprises. With your practical experiences, I am sure that in the event that some issue pops up, you will be able to help the technicians respond quickly in any circumstances. It would put me at ease."

A hiss sounded from the corridor they were passing by and both Shirou and Lev turned to face it. A small furry squirrel Phantasmal creature took the opportunity to hiss again at Shirou.

Shirou blinked and the Phantasmal was suddenly far down the hallway.

 _It's awfully fast,_ Shirou thought as he looked after it turn around the curve in the hallway. _Well, it is a Phantasmal._

"I never understood why Fou seems to hate you so much. He always does that when he sees you, doesn't he?" Lev Lainur commented to Shirou.

Shirou chuckled a little. "I always figured that Fou can smell the monsters that I've killed. I could have killed one of its friends or something." _Either that or it can smell that I have been working on my Reality Marble._

"Hmm, then do you know what it is?" Lev Lainur turned to Shirou in curiosity.

"No, never seen a Phantasmal creature with that type of mane before," Shirou confessed. "But I figure that in my journeys, I may have crossed paths with it before. It is small enough that I could have missed it."

"Unlikely. Fou was found by the previous director and brought here 20 years ago. You would have been a child when that happened." Lev said before continuing their walk. "You will help the engineers out, right?"

Shirou shrugged, no complaint or reason to not down there. "Alright, if it'll help then I'll do it."

"Thank you. Oh, and by any chance do you know where Mash Kyrielight is?" Lev asked before explaining to Shirou's curious look. "The briefing is about to start, and the director wants her there."

Shirou shook his head. "I haven't seen her since…" He cocked his head in thought, "Huh, must have been 2 days ago at lunch. It has been kind of busy lately with all the double checks. Anyways, have you checked the top floor outer corridor? She seems to like going there for her breaks."

"I'll go check it out then," Lev nodded once before turning with a click of his heels down a hallway leading to the uppermost floor in Chaldea. "Thanks for your help and I hope you finish your task."

"Thanks for the well-wishes," Shirou answered as he took a different corridor to the elevator. "Good luck to you."

* * *

Shirou stood gloved hand on the outer shell of the geothermal condenser, sweat staining his brow.

"The pumps appear to have no problems with the heat transfer and the water flow is working just fine. Are there any flaws that you can see?" technician von Nettesheim asked.

"I told you, my element is not conductive to this type of analysis." Shirou responded absently. The steel is not showing any propagation of cracks. Stress level is fine. Strain level is low.

"Well," Shirou stated as he withdrew his hand, "the cracks on the machinery aren't propagating. Assuming that we don't experience drastic increases in stress for this generator, then we should be fine using this generator during the Rayshift."

"There are cracks? Where? I didn't see any when I analyzed it!" demanded Rum.

"Then obviously it was out of your sight," Shirou sarcastically responded as he reached out his hand to the container again. "Trace On." Structural Analysis went out from his hand, into the machine and down the pipes. "The largest crack is on the 319th pipe segment and there are several gears each with cracks less than a nanometer in size."

"319th pipe you said," von Nettesheim asked, reaching out his own hand as Shirou withdrew his own hand. Prana from different mages could interfere with each other's spells. "Structural Analysis." A beat. "Ah, along the grain boundary. Must have always been there, otherwise we would have seen it form. But as it, I think this will be fine. Shouldn't affect performance at all."

"But if there is a flaw, we should replace it immediately. We can't afford for a single error," Mr. Rum interjected. "Not on this revolutionary day."

"There are acceptable tolerances, and this is well within the tolerance range. If we fix it, we will have to take the generator off the grid for a minor replacement, and we can't even be sure that the replacement will lack cracks as well. Also," He disagreed before glancing towards Emiya. "Mr. Emiya isn't specialized in this field. His opinion is valid but the same could be said for all of the materials. If we suffer large enough stresses, then all the machinery will fail. However, if we do experience such large stress across all the machinery, we will probably be dead from receiving the stresses ourselves."

Shirou shrugged. Von Nettesheim was right. Shirou hadn't had any form of education. All he knew about machinery, he had learned from experience with smaller equipment.

Which reminded him, he should helping out here before going back and finish the check-up on R-17.

The intercom blared to life with its distinctive crackle. "Attention all personnel. Please stand-by as we begin preparations for Rayshift. Attention all personnel. Please stand-by as we begin preparations for Rayshift."

"Well, here we go!" von Nettesheim shouted, Rum behind him started nearly quivering in excitement. "Places everyone!"

"So glad the director isn't here. Can't you see her going 'Be silent! You work for me and this behavior is unseemly!'" Maugris said in a perfect imitation of Director Animusphere's voice. Laughter rang out from the technicians as Shirou headed towards the panels where the fuses are kept.

"Did you really capture her voice in a bounded field just so you could ventriloquize her, Henri? I didn't think you had the guts for that!"

"Eh, laugh it up, laugh it up. My wind element is going to revolutionize the steam here."

"Yeah, the steam off the director."

Amidst the guffaws, von Nettesheim tried to regain order "Now calm down everyone, we don't want- "

BOOM!

"TR- "Emiya was about half-way there to the fuse breakers when the explosion started from the ceiling above the generator. Experienced in fighting creatures faster than he, he reacted to the sound of an explosion by bringing up his magic circuits. Unfortunately, the few milliseconds before the shockwave hit was not enough time for him to reinforce himself or protect another.

Shirou entered the darkness immediately.


	2. Checklist 2: Reasonably value coworkers

**Checklist Item 2: Make sure the other Technician's don't Die. Unless it is Absolutely Necessary.**

 _Chaldea Antarctica_

When Shirou Emiya regained consciousness, he first thought it was a nightmare.

The fires were raging out of control as flames danced among the machines. Bodies, ash, steel, and stone lay scattered everywhere. His body hurt everywhere and burns pained every exposed inch of his skin. His insides felt cooked. It felt just like the Fuyuki Fire.

Shirou's eyes snapped open. He had to save someone! He couldn't let the Fuyuki fire kill everyone again. Shirou went to brace himself up –

-only to see his right hand was gone. A few centimeters away and unconnected to any part of his body, his right hand lay oozing blood and swords. As he painfully, centimeter by centimeter, raised his head from the ground to look at his left arm just to see that his left arm's biceps and down lay about a quarter of a meter away from his body. As he looked down, his blood and some foreign steel, now added to his Reality Marble, was beneath his almost corpse of a body.

Shirou raised his right arm and - _oh did it hurt_ – and stuck its sheared-off wrist to his hand's protruding swords. He grimaced at the pain of reconnecting his nerves by stabbing both ends with swords before it faded to a pain merely a rank above the rest of his body. Nothing he couldn't ignore.

With his right hand reconnected, Shirou pushed his body up and over, ignoring the sounds of metal falling out of his body as his swords manifested to expel the swords that were not him, before covering wounds where his blood sought to leave his body. He felt a little light headed and dull despite the danger all around. Shirou grabbed his arm to reattach it and, as he glanced down at his legs, he probably had to project a sword to lever off the stone crushing both of his shins.

Shirou, holding his left arm to his biceps, looked around the room again. Now that he was fully awake, he saw that this was not like Fuyuki. For one thing, no one was dying as people weren't combusting into flames. Instead, they all lay scattered around, fragments of metal and stone sticking up from their bodies like an ugly graveyard full of crude gravestones on top of bodies. A second thing, now that he was sitting up, he could see the stone ceiling, albeit a ceiling with massive scars where the explosions had struck, instead of a clouded sky. The flames just felt like normal fire, without the sheer malevolence that Angra Mainyu had put out.

 _So, I am not in Fuyuki. Where am I? Oh right, Chaldea. Is there anyone alive?_

Shirou looked around the room again, the smoke and exhaustion blurring his vision like a fine haze. No movement beyond the flicker of flames. No sound outside of the hiss of steam and crackle of fire. No smell beyond the smell of blood, ash, steel, and fire. No signs of life.

When the last jolt of pain from reattaching his limb to his body vanished, Shirou muttered "Trace on."

An average sword shimmered into existence near his legs. Nothing special, just another sword from a tourist shop made several years ago and sold to an American. Using his left arm, Shirou dug the tip of the sword under the concrete crushing his legs and pushed sharply downwards on the hilt. The stone rose and rolled off him even as his makeshift lever cracked and broke into glimmers of prana.

Shirou examined his feet. His calves were crushed. He wouldn't be able to walk on his feet for a while. Unacceptable. He needed to triage the survivors now before he could send anyone to the medical office.

Shirou muttered again his mantra "Trace on" as a chainmail cast made of tiny swords appeared around both legs. He staggered to his feet, limbs now attached, his legs now splintered and their function replaced by swords. He hoped the tiny blades wouldn't take too much prana to maintain. He needed to conserve his strength for the survivors.

The first person, Kallen Sayward lay just a few feet over, a chunk of the ceiling lay atop his back. A quick finger check at his throat confirmed him with no heartbeat and Kallen Sayward was designated as dead.

The pain and fire came like waves against a battered shore as Shirou took step after step checking his coworkers for any sign of life. Rum, von Nettesheim, Galliasta, Meinster all dead.

As Shirou limped over to Denis Flowerchild, the man hated being called by his last name, Shirou felt depressed and desperate. Most of his coworkers were dead. Maybe this was what Dad felt like when the Fuyuki Fire happened. Shirou's Od was very low, apparently having been used up while he was unconscious. _I didn't even know you could use magecraft while unconscious,_ Shirou mused to himself. He felt light headed like he was missing a lot of blood again.

 _Or I am breathing too much carbon dioxide._ Shirou realized with a chill. He couldn't help anyone if he died from running out of oxygen. At his next stumble step forward, Shirou didn't catch himself and let himself fall to the ground.

The impact knocked the breath out of him. Even as he wheezed, he crawled forward. Centimeter by centimeter, one arm at a time, Shirou reached Denis. He stopped to check Denis's pulse.

One beat of Shirou's heart.

Two beats.

Three beats.

Shirou sighed in disappointment. Another dead. And then he felt a beat.

Shirou stilled. Is he alive? Is it possible for him, Shirou, to save another person?

One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, five seconds, six seconds.

Heartbeat.

Shirou examined Denis's facedown body. A pierce wound in his right side, a slab of concrete across his left hip, both legs and left hand. And then Shirou saw the blood. The blood pooling under Denis's head.

Shirou hurriedly lifted Denis's head. It wouldn't do for Denis to drown in his blood. As Shirou lifted the head, he saw a piece of metal shrapnel lodged in the nose.

"Trace On." Shirou's Structural Analysis started to spill secrets.

The piece of metal was 45 minutes old, having separated from the generator when a bomb placed inside the wall behind it went off and caused parts of the generator to fracture and scatter like a hail of missiles. It was 5 centimeters long at its longest diagonal, jagged, and had spent 45 minutes lodged upwards in Denis Flowerchild's nose. It had hit before the concrete slab collapsed on and knocked down Denis Flowerchild but only by a two-tenths of a second. It had severed and was now blocking an artery to the frontal part of the brain.

Shirou stilled. No, no, NO! At this point, it would take very good medical care or a miracle to save his life. He might suffer from brain damage for the rest of his life but it might be possible for him to survive. But not with the concrete slab across his body.

Shirou left Flowerchild with a small dull sword raising his head out of the pool of blood. He would return if the last person was dead or in even worse condition. As Shirou crawled over to Todd Reeve, he idly wondered if he would have strength to drag two bodies out of this disaster.

No need. The American engineer was dead. Shirou simply turned around and started crawling back to Denis. He would have to do this carefully and quickly. No hesitation, no dallying. He would need to sever and cauterize Denis's limbs before he could drag him over to the door.

The door! Was it able to open? Shirou glanced over. The haze formed by the heat of the fires wavered the image of the door from half-way across the room. Even then, Shirou could see that he would need to clear a path to the door, otherwise, no one would be able to get in or out. Shirou turned and crawled towards the door, taking time to crawl around the occasional slab or pushing some of the smaller and lighter pieces away from the path he would take once he got Denis.

At the door, Shirou saw a slab of concrete indented into the lower left portion. For a sliding door, this meant that unless he got that dent removed, the door was as good as a wall for all the good that it could do.

Shirou got up into a crouch. He would need his full strength for this. With another murmured "Trace on", Shirou reinforced his body and pulled on the concrete away. It groaned as Shirou's magecraft enhanced strength pulled it screeching centimeter by centimeter away from the door. At a quarter of a meter, Shirou stopped, panting. He was so tired.

But there is a person to save. He can't abandon him. Shirou turned back to the door. It still can't open but if he could cut out the warped portion of the door, then perhaps the door would be able to slide open, allowing for Denis to escape the conflagration. But how to cut it?

Shirou browsed his Reality Marble. Surely there was some sword that had cut through metal at some point. Maybe a Mystic Code or Noble Phantasm or something?

 _"Emiya Shirou. Understand. You are a maker, not a fighter. Do not think about other things. There is only one thing you can do. So master that one thing. Do not forget. What you must imagine is that you yourself are the strongest. You do not need outside enemies. For you, the one you have to fight is none other than your own image."_

The memory flashes through his head. The unknown Archer who killed Berserker six times by himself. His last words. His advice that enabled Saber and Shirou to kill Berserker together. The solution is clear now.

If Shirou doesn't have a sword that can cut through steel and the Noble Phantasms that could do so require too much prana to project, then Shirou will just have to imagine and forge a sword that can.

Falling deep into his aria and closer to his Reality Marble, Shirou enunciated "Trace on!"

 _Judging the concept of creation._

The sword was an ordinary sword made by Shirou Emiya. It was enchanted according to Wayland's 32nd method to cut through iron like it was air.

 _Hypothesizing the basic structure._

The sword is a straight sword, edged on both sides in a diamond cross-section with a gently rounded center. The hilt is suited for a hand and a half sword, and the ornamentation is plain.

 _Duplicating the composition material._

It was a 5160-spring steel alloy. Constantly infused with prana throughout Shirou's forging process.

 _Imitating the skill of its making._

Forged in Unlimited Blades Works, at the will of Shirou Emiya. Rushed through production but still a blade of quality. It does not have an existence in Gaia.

 _Sympathizing with the experience of its growth._

Called into existence, the sword knew neither forge nor flame beyond the will and life of Shirou Emiya.

 _Reproducing the accumulated years._

A brand-new sword. It only exists in Unlimited Blade Works. A copy of it was called forth to save a life.

 _Excelling every manufacturing process._

Driven to surpass even itself, this sword will exert an influence on Gaia despite never being a part of it.

With the completion of the final step, Shirou reached forth his arm and grabbed the iron slicing, Mystic Code longsword that he projected. His hand shook from exhaustion and perhaps what were side effects of reattaching his hand back to his body. He exhaled into the smoke-filled atmosphere and thrust.

A slash from the floor upwards to two-thirds the height of a man. He withdrew his sword, turned it ninety degrees and then cut across the top of his makeshift opening. He could now hear the sounds of air and smoke fly through the narrow slits in the door. Good, good.

However, Shirou knew his sword couldn't cut except for at the edges so he withdrew it again before slicing downwards to the ground, taking care not to cut the ground before dismissing the sword. Shirou had no desire to cause the floor to collapse, that could slow the rescue of Denis if not kill him if the floor collapsed.

Shirou pushed on the cut-out door, frowning as instead of moving, it squealed the shriek of tortured steel. Oh. He had forgotten that the sliding door was deeper than the floor level. Shirou would have groaned if it didn't waste precious oxygen.

Reaching into his small prana reserves, Shirou frowned as it seemed to be smaller than it should be. With only the inversion of his Reality Marble into his body to reattach some limbs back together, the projection of a cast of swords, a few sword-levers, and a brand-new Mystic Code, and some Reinforcement, he shouldn't have his reserves this low. Just enough to keep his projections in the world and to do some small magecrafts.

"Trace On." His sword reappeared and clattered to the floor. Shirou reached forth his hand and with a simple flick, he sliced through the bottom of his new door. Steel groaned as the door finally fell.

On him. Shirou flung up his arms just in time to catch the door before it crushed him into the ground. It was as heavy as he would have imagined. Grunting with effort, Shirou's magecraft reinforced arms, lowered the door bit by bit, as the sound of the door's stressed steel echoed from the swords piercing his arms and legs together.

Shirou dropped the door onto the ground before falling backwards onto his bum, breathing hard. He needed to do more workouts. Trying to catch the heavy metal door was nearly beyond him.

Shirou gazed out the door towards the corridor that was filling with the smoke from the room. No fires out there but there was no doctor, no medic, not even bystanders. The dark corridor mocked his efforts to save.

Shirou scooted backwards before turning onto his stomach, following the path that he had cleared for Denis. Without the debris slowing him down, it felt positively rapid when compared to his journey to the door. In almost no time, he was at the patch of ground that Denis lay on.

Now, how to get Denis to the door without disturbing the piece of metal in his head? If too jarring, Denis would die as the shrapnel jiggled around poking his brain in various spots or the jiggling would cause too much blood to slip past the metal preventing the blood from gushing from his head. Either way, Denis could die.

Nothing for it, Shirou projected the simplest solution he could think of. A squat but long trolley came into Gaia in front of Denis. With his utmost care, Shirou projected a massive blunt sword beneath Denis, with the hilt resting on top of the trolley. Dismissing the sword that had kept Denis's head from drowning in a pool of blood, Shirou smoothly levered the sword up to height of the trolley and dragged it across the trolley, bringing Denis with it.

Shirou decided against dismissing the sword. It was wide enough that Denis dropping to the trolley could potentially jar his body in a bad way. Squatting back down again, Shirou grabbed the handles of the trolley and slowly rolled it around to the cleared path. Boy was he glad that he had spent the time to clear the path. It was making this much faster and safer for Denis. The odds of Denis's survival were looking up!

Slowly but as steadily as he could, Shirou pulled his projected trolley and sword towards the door and his cut-out door.

As Shirou approached the door, the squatting Shirou realized that he forgot to move the slab of steel away from the opening. What to do? His prana was still remarkably low and he needed to keep his strength up as long as he could. But the cut-out part of the door was blocking the way and to go over it would involve bumping the trolley and its cargo of Denis, which might kill him.

Shirou stopped the cart and walked over to the slab of steel. He bent down to see if there was something like a hand hold or if the edge was cut such that he could grip it. No such luck. While the edge of the steel was diagonally cut, it wasn't angled enough for a person to grab. Sometimes, Shirou hated his luck.

Shirou laid the bottom of one foot against the opposite edge of the door. Reinforcing his body, Shirou pushed with all the strength he could muster. The steel shrieked as it rubbed inch by screeching inch away from the door and the pathway for rescue.

Shirou stopped, panting the smoke-filled air in and out of his lungs. The world seemed to swim and sway from one side to another. Shirou figured that that wasn't good. It had never been good on his hunts before. But Denis needed to get to the medical office. Now.

Shirou grabbed the trolley bars and the world seemed to stabilize a bit. That was good, right? Shirou tugged on the handlebars and wheeled the reeling cart out of the broken and aflame power plant and into the dark and dimly green lit corridors.

Shirou paused. Something was wrong but was he supposed to head right or left to get to the medical office?

Making a decision, Shirou tugged on the cart. Maybe it was just him but the cart seemed heavier than before. Maybe he should stand up? Yeah, that made sense. There weren't any enemies around to crouch in cover for after all. So why was he crouching? That was just silly.

Oh yeah, he needed to push the cart. Someone needed help. Someone needed to be saved. Standing, Shirou pushed the cart - or was that fell on top of the handlebars? He must have drunk too much liquor at some point. It seemed funny. Bad sis Fujimura, getting him drunk like that.

As Shirou staggered down the corridor towards the elevator, the green lights seemed to occupy his mind. There was something important about green lights. Didn't they mean go? Wasn't he going? Then all should be fine. But there was something important. What could it be? Also, why was the darkness moving in from the walls? Was there some Mystery involving darkness here?

As Shirou felt the last of his od give out, he felt the cart and sword vanish from under his hands. A thump distantly sounded and then Shirou was falling. Falling into the cart that used to be there.

 _Was that another corpse there?_ Shirou wondered as he fell into the darkness.

Both the darkness and the corpse seemed terribly familiar. But why was that?

* * *

 **I was surprised by the number of people who thought that Shirou would become a demi-servant. Or the idea where Caster servants piece him back together. For those wondering, the next chapter will have an explanation for what has happened.**

 **For now, Shirou just used up the equivalent of a lifetime of luck to not have anything hit his brain. A few small pieces of shrapnel bounced off his skull but nothing penetrated his brain. And with his Magic Circuits on, brain intact, his Reality Marble formed, and his Reality Marble having a form of imitation of Avalon, the conditions were right for the Reality Marble to piece (or pierce in this case) him back together. I am basing this off a bit of lore from that as long as the brain is intact, the Magic Circuits can continue working, even if the body dies.**


	3. Checklist3: Arrive in an Orderly Fashion

**Sorry for the wait, I had some problems with characterization so it took a while to get the characters to my liking. It also turned into a bit of info dump.**

 **Checklist Item 3: Arrive at Your Shifts in an Orderly and Timely Fashion.**

 _Chaldea, Antarctica_

Shirou slept soundly. When he awoke, the familiar bright lights and small sounds, the sleepiness clinging to every part of his mind and the comfort of a good bed was almost enough to lull him back to sleep again. Breakfast could wait.

The pain and bladder wouldn't. Groaning, Shirou opened his eyes to see a massive ceiling of electric lights all above his head. His mind sleepy from just waking up, he slowly grabbed the blanket covering him and pulled it off, even as he sat up in bed. Blinking as he looked around, he saw the yellow curtains surrounding his nice, warm, comfy bed.

The set-up was familiar. Was he in the hospital again? The bed was a little too nice for a hospital but the abundance of light, the sanitized smell from the cleaning agents, and the curtains fit the image.

As Shirou shuffled out of bed, he winced as a burst of pain came from, well, everywhere. His hands, his arms, his feet, his lungs, all protested in unison. But they faded as he stopped, only for his bladder to continue.

Shirou rose to his feet, stoically riding out the pain. He hoped the bathroom was close nearby. As he parted the curtains, Shirou took in the rest of the room. More yellow curtains surrounding beds, one unoccupied bed, more lights, and at the front of the room near the door was a small dark desk with a mirror on the wall next to it.

Barefoot, Shirou walked over to the door. He noticed the security panel and extended his left wrist to tap his identification bracelet against it. The door opened and Shirou heard the distant mutter of conversation.

"… going to check the vital signs of the wounded, so I'll be back in a bit. Keep on fixing the control room and make your best judgement if something happens. I shouldn't take too long…"

The red-haired, white coated Doctor Romani turned the corner and stopped as he stared at the red and white haired, tanned Shirou Emiya.

"Sorry to interrupt you doctor, but could you by chance direct me to the nearest restroom?" Shirou asked, a little impatiently. He really needed to go.

* * *

"So, you're one of the engineers, right? Hiro Emiya? Piro Emiya? What was your name again?" Dr. Romani asked, leaning against the wall outside the restroom, browsing through some documents on his communicator.

"Shirou Emiya. And I'm one of the technicians." Shirou spoke over the running water as he washed his hands.

Shirou glanced up to the mirror. He looked more different now compared to how he was a little over a decade ago when he went through, no, survived the Fifth Grail War. His hair had mostly whitened, probably due to all the stress he went through on his journeys and his research. Oh sure, there were still strands of red scattered throughout his hair, but white was definitely the dominant color. His skin was tanning, albeit by looking like a child was painting him by swiping him with random strokes of dark tanned skin. His small growth spurt had boosted his height by more than a few centimeters. He looked more like the mysterious Archer now. Huh, maybe they were related? Which would suck but he never had learned Archer's name…

"Shirou Emiya? Well, it is nice to meet you, Shirou Emiya. I am Doctor Romani Archaman. You can call me Dr. Roman though. Everyone does." Dr. Romani introduced himself, still flipping through the medical document for his patient. "Sorry for the rudeness, but how are you up right now? Your injuries were so bad that I would've expected you to be out until next week, not today and that would be _if_ you survived. Two pulverized legs, two punctured lungs, a scrape along the skull, intestines had a hole through them and scars all over your chest, legs, and arms, even some on your head. You're lucky that your magic circuits were still open and working, as they helped keep you alive. We had people who took fewer and less severe injuries and expired before we even found you."

In the middle of washing his hands, Shirou stilled. Last night's First Order, the power plant, the inferno, Denis Flowerchild!

Shirou rushed over and slammed the door open, startling Dr. Roman such that he nearly fell over. Dr. Roman caught himself in time.

"Denis! Is Denis Flowerchild all right?" Shirou urgently demanded.

"Denis? Oh, the body we found with you." Dr. Roman grimaced and bowed. "Sorry to say but by the time we sent someone down to the central power plant, he had already expired. I am sorry for your loss."

"Tsk," Shirou clicked his tongue in irritation at his failure.

He had failed. He had tried to save someone and almost succeeded.

But it had been a long shot. He had to move on.

For the sake of those still alive.

For those who still can be saved.

A thought popped into Shirou's head as he turned to Dr. Roman.

What of everyone else? If the central powerplant had an explosion and no one had been able to help, then there must have been something else going on.

And for an organization like Chaldea which depended on power in order to continue functioning, there was no way that an explosion that ruined the central powerplant would have gone unnoticed. Especially as the command center also served as the security center for the entire base.

Shirou rushed forward to grab a hold of Dr. Roman, almost physically shaking the man. "What happened? Is anyone in need of help? Who is hurt or in need of rescue?"

"Hey, stop that!" The doctor squawked as he grabbed Shirou's arm to try to get it off him. Weakened as Shirou had been, he didn't offer much resistance. "I don't know what mystery you used to further accelerate your healing, but you should avoid anything strenuous for at least several more days. Your internals are still healing and I don't want to stitch you back up again."

Shirou's concern ebbed in embarrassment. "Sorry," he apologized. To the doctor, Shirou couldn't have been the only patient and the doctors was just trying to make sure that Shirou wouldn't end up back in the infirmary again. Shirou could understand the mind frame of a doctor, even if he didn't need or deserve the concern. "I'll be fine though. I had a healing artifact in me when I was young and I just got used to healing faster than normal."

It was true. Shirou does heal faster than the average magus when healing magecraft was applied. It wasn't as fast as when he had Avalon but apparently his body had adjusted to Avalon and as a result, found healing magecraft as a normal state of being. At least, that was what Rin had said, scolding for his idiocy excluded, a few years ago as she had healed him after a hunt.

Dr. Roman frowned, "So, a natural adjustment over an extended period of time increased your bodies efficiency in utilizing healing energy? Would that be a continuous exposure? Except wasn't proven to be detrimental…? Never mind. I was hoping that you could apply it to the other victims, but if it is just a natural adjustment, there's nothing we can do. What about the automatic projections inside your body? They saved your life you know. They acted as remarkably effective first aid which kept you alive until we, well, found you. If you could apply those projections inside of others…"

Shirou winced. All those people injured while he lay unconscious. How was he supposed to be a hero of justice if he was asleep when people needed him?

"Sorry," he said, "that is a Mystery uniquely suited to me. It doesn't have a very good success rate when applied to others." Regrettably, that was true. His body and Reality Marble projected swords to stitch itself together, but swords weren't exactly the best materials for anything but surgery and amputation. Only unkept, unsanitary hospitals in 3rd world countries had a lower success rate than him doing medical magecraft with his swords. His body was okay with it but that was because his body didn't resist his Reality Marble or his magecraft. And, unfortunately, his projections that weren't swords don't last long enough. He had found that out the hard way only in 2006. Those poor victims of the tsunami on Java.

"Too bad. We have a large number of wounded and injured. Almost everyone who wasn't on the night shift or the cafeteria ladies and janitors, was injured or killed in the explosions. If you could have done those projections inside the bodies of others… Well anyways," Dr. Roman stretched and yawned before continuing. "You need to get some food and water before heading back to bed. You haven't eaten a thing for the last two days and all the IV packs are in use by other patients." His voice dropped as he muttered to himself, "Prepared for anything, my ass. We only have enough critical care medical supplies for three quarters of the survivors, and we can't move the Masters from the Central Control room until we know who is Rayshifted and who isn't. With all the Spiritron Chassis destroyed, who would even know if a person died in the shift! Who proposed this crazy place anyways?"

As Dr. Roman ranted, Shirou paused as he turned to examine Dr. Roman a little more carefully. The man's hands occasionally twitched and shook as he threw them around, there were dark circles under his eyes and his eyes were bloodshot red. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.

Shirou felt a twinge of sympathy. How long had this man worked to save lives? How many patients had expired under his hands even as he did all he could to save them? How many meals and hours of sleep had he missed in order to spend a few more minutes working on a patient about to slip away into death's hands?

Shirou gently placed a hand on the good doctor's shoulders. "Hey Doctor, why don't I help you out for a bit and you can get some sleep."

Dr. Roman shook his head. "I can't. We still have to repair the circuits in the control room so that we can get communication with the Masters up."

"Doctor," Shirou repeated, "You are exhausted. If you don't get a good meal and some sleep you will make mistakes on your patients before you collapse. I have some first aid experience so I can help a little with the patients while you rest."

Dr. Roman raised an eyebrow, "You are a technician, a magus, and a nurse? How did you end learning all that?"

Shirou barked a humorless laugh, "I lived an interesting life. But, I'm more of a first-aid responder than a nurse."

"Oh, shame." Dr. Roman shook off Shirou's hand. "Well, you need to head down to the cafeteria. You should" Roman yawned "sorry about that, you should know how to get there right?"

"Only after you get some sleep. You won't do anyone any good if you don't get some sleep."

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Dr. Roman waved off Shirou's concerns. "More importantly, you need to recover. Don't do anything strenuous. Actually, don't move fast, don't rush, and don't do any lifting. Ask a cafeteria lady for a light, and I mean _light_ , lunch. Preferably soup. Eat slowly. Your intestines should still be recovering. Drink fluids but not any more than a fraction of a glass per minute. Then head back to sleep. It would be better if you slept in the infirmary. We have a permanent Bounded Field in there that increases healing speed up there."

"No, seriously Doctor, you need to sleep. You are shaking." Shirou insisted. "As in physically shaking. You need sleep."

"I'll get some later." Dr. Roman took Shirou by the shoulders and started pushing him down the hall. "Get some food and sleep. You are one of the last technicians we have so once you recover, we'll put you to work."

"If you can get some sleep, then I'll get some food but you need sleep for the sake of the patients." Shirou argued over his shoulder before stopping. "Wait, I forgot to turn off the water."

"Water? What water?" Dr. Roman blinked as Shirou slipped around his hands and back through the restroom doors. Shirou walked back over to the sink and turned off the fountain. Stopping to grab a paper towel and dry his hands, Shirou walked back out to Dr. Roman.

Dr. Roman was pacing in the hallway, muttering to himself. Apparently, he wasn't the type to take being sleepless by getting lethargic but got instead a weird form of restlessness. It reminded Shirou of Illya the one time she decided to stay up till midnight on the New Year. He bit back a smile. She and Taiga had been … interesting that night. May the world, and more importantly Sakura and Rin, himself as well wouldn't be bad, forget the fate of those poor rubber duckies… and the teddy bear.

Shirou shook his head. He could reminiscence later. Until then he needed to make sure the patients were in good condition and use that to send the doctor to bed.

"Hey, Doctor."

"It's Doctor Roman."

"Doctor Roman, why don't you come with me to the cafeteria and we can talk" _and rest and let you potentially doze off into a nap_ "for a bit before heading to bed and getting some sleep." Shirou had learned subtlety over the decade he has been graduated from high school.

Doctor Roman snorted. "I told you! We're too busy for me to take a rest." Shirou never said he learned how to be good at subtlety.

"Now get down to the cafeteria for a light lunch like soup. Is soup good, yeah soup is good." Dr. Roman mumbled to himself before continuing. "Make sure that you drink and eat slowly. You'll need to be sure about the water. Drink too fast and you will be back in the infirmary room as soon as the cafeteria ladies get you up here."

Now Shirou was determined to get the good doctor back to bed. He was never the best at tact anyways. "Doctor, you just repeated your instructions. You need to get some sleep."

"Now, now. What is the ruckus here?" A musical voice rang down the halls.

Shirou started. He hadn't even sensed her approach and now that he focused on her, who looked faintly familiar, he could smell something he hadn't smelled in a decade. Power. Power of a Heroic Spirit. The power of a Servant.

Dr. Roman wasn't fazed by her aura. "This idiot won't go down to the cafeteria. He just woke up from the infirmary and is capable of walking around and he is bothering me over something pointless!" The man appeared to be pouting.

Shirou snapped out of his shock and shot back. "He is devoted to the concept that if he collapses while taking care of patients, it will improve their health rather than potentially kill them! He needs to sleep."

"Ah, one of the ground zero survivors woke up. Nice to meet you. I am Leonardo da Vinci. You can just call me Leonard or Da Vinci though. Now why don't we let the doctor run along to his patients and you and I can take a quick lunch break," the Heroic Spirit said.

Shirou frowned. "No, the doctor needs to sleep. Look at him! He is barely even awake, he doesn't even remember what he said a minute ago, and he looks like he hasn't slept in days! He needs to sleep or he will kill someone."

Leonard sighed before grabbing Shirou and pulling him aside. Looking at him head-on, Shirou became aware that he was being stared down by a black-haired young woman not even up to his shoulders, a delicate woman who could probably bench press him by sheer strength she possessed by the virtue of being a Servant.

"Now, young man, you are right. Roman has been awake running the place while trying to save as many lives as he can. He does need sleep and I am planning to take care of that. You on the other hand, just woke up from the infirmary full of the badly wounded and dying. You are still injured and you shouldn't be stressing yourself in any way. If Doctor Roman has patch you back up, he won't be able to rest and will just spend more time awake. With that in mind, why don't you spend some time with the glorious Da Vinci and I can help us all?"

Shirou hesitated. The doctor needed to sleep. But if Doctor Roman thought that Shirou would hurt himself then he would probably just force himself to stay awake. But if Shirou went back to bed quickly then the doctor would also sleep. And arguing here in the hallway just prevented Dr. Roman from sleeping and took up the time of a Heroic Spirit.

Shirou slowly nodded. If it saved a life or a few then he could take it easy. He ignored the voice in the back of his head that really wanted to ask how often had he found himself in the situation where taking no action resulted saving more people.

"Alright. I'll just get a small meal and head back to my room."

The woman Hero gave him a look proclaiming him an idiot. Why is it that most women gave him that look? "No, you will sleep in the infirmary tonight. The sooner you are healed, the sooner we can all get back to work. We can't get a reading on the Singularity but I doubt that it has gotten any better."

* * *

Shirou sat down at a table in the cafeteria looking at the simple stew in front of him. No side dishes, no chopsticks, just a simple vegetable stew. Sighing, Shirou grabbed his spoon and took a sip. Too much salt but it tasted like there might be some beans, beef, carrots, and corn used in the stew. Well it wasn't a vegetable stew then. Magi weren't fond of cheap food substitutes. _Well, it could have been worse. We could have had an explosion in the pantry too._

His thoughts returned to Leonard. Funny but his Reality Marble didn't seem to have any weapons used by Leonard. Sure, there was a spatha, and a Noble Phantasm doru or spear, and a shield that had been reputedly wielded by Leonidas, but he didn't have a weapon for Leonard or Leonardo da Vinci. Which meant either Leonardo was a Caster Servant who didn't use weapons or she wasn't carrying it on her. Or had she concealed the weapon? But wasn't Leonardo da Vinci a male? Or had Leonardo masqueraded as a male like Saber had?

His head hurt so he took another bite of stew. The more important issue is how? How did Chaldeas manage to summon a Servant of all things? Was there another Grail War going on? If so then he better be careful. But if he could get involved and summon Saber again…

Shirou took another bite. Saber. He hadn't seen her for 11 years. 11 years since the 5th Holy Grail War of 2004. It seemed so long, but if he closed his eyes, he could still see her standing in his shed, moonlight highlighting her golden hair, gleaming off her armor. And he could still hear her last words of "Shirou, I love you" ringing through the morning light as if she had just said them.

Shirou continued eating. Saber, Saber Saber.10 years he had searched for her. After Rin brought him to the Clock Tower, Zelretch had told him to search endlessly for her and that if he did and she waited continuously then possibly a miracle could happen and they would meet again. Then he had thrown a paint balloon at him and laughed. Sometimes, Shirou wondered what was going through the master of the 2nd magic's head.

Well, it had been a long 10 years. When he had tried to get to the archives of the department of the Third Department Spiritual Evocation, they had kicked him out due to his father's actions in the 4th Holy Grail War. So had the department of Sixth Anthropology. And the Fifth Zoology. The First General Fundamentals had refused him access on account of him not being a member of the Mage's Association. The Second Individual Fundamentals had refused to even allow him onto the grounds. The Twelfth Modern Magecraft Theories had, rather politely, asked him to leave. And then someone tried to hit him with a lethal mystery from a window as he left. Lord El-Melloi II had sent a letter apologizing for his subordinate afterwards. That was nice of him. The Ninth Creation had been ruder, with someone ranting about his father ruining a work of art. Someone still tried to shoot him in the back as he left but he got no apology for that. In fact, as Shirou thought about it, the only departments that he could even visit were the Fourth Mineralogy, if only because of Rin and Luvia's influence, the Seventh Botany, The Ninth Curse, the Eleventh Archaeology, and only recently the Eighth Celestial Body thanks to Lev Lainur pulling strings with the Animuspheres. Although, trying to visit Curse nearly got him slapped with a Sealing Designation as one of the Bounded Fields detected the residue of Angra Mainyu's curses. He was so glad that Rin fast talked them into thinking that the Bounded Field was faulty for saying that it detected a Divine Spirit level curse. Rin didn't allow to go back though. And she forbade him from even going near Policies. Too many Lords that would love to kill him for his father's murders and actions.

In fact, it was Archeology that he went to the most. They had a lot of information about ancient faeries interacting with England, even if they didn't have a lot about the Fair Folk or their side of the Reverse World called Avalon. But they have some faerie artifacts recovered from archeological digs and a list of faerie monuments across England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, France, and even some in Asia too. He had spent the last decade investigating each site, hoping to find some clue about how to enter Avalon. He still hadn't finished the list as he had spent all of his savings on travel and trying to learn some of the secrets and mysteries of the Fae.

Which was how he ended up here in Chaldeas. Lev Lainur had invited him here after observing him fix a car that had broken down about a block away from Sir Flauros research building. Apparently, they need people who could fix machines. Considering that the average magus wouldn't be able to handle a multi-tool much less fix a machine, there was an astonishing lack of candidates for the technician positions needed to keep Chaldeas running.

It paid well. He had been working here for over three years now and had managed to make good progress on the list. Just a few more years and he could finish off the list of sites. Perhaps he could find a gate to Avalon. He had already found a few weapons and pieces of armor made by and left behind by the faeries besides Saber's Caliburn, Excalibur, and Avalon.

In his workshop back in Fuyuki, he had a lot more data about Faerie magic. It was difficult for him, since he was human and they were Fae, but he could replicate a mystery or two of the Fae. Namely, elf-shot. An annoying flint arrow that inflicted a curse upon anyone hit by it. Unfortunately, he had no success in ramping up its size or potency up to anywhere near either Rin or Luvia's ability with their Gandr shot or Finn shot. Elf-shot was not of much use considering how expensive it was in terms of prana and how weak it was. Excellent for Zelretch, not quite so for Shirou.

However, that was his workshop and this was here. Here, he could only work on analyzing his Reality Marble's faerie weapons and armor again and again and again while hoping for a breakthrough. It wasn't happening anytime soon but what else could he do? The faeries weren't just going to pop up out of nowhere and bring him to meet Saber. He couldn't waste time.

Shirou finished his stew and stared into his bowl. He was still a little hungry but Dr. Roman had told him not to strain himself. He sighed and got up, taking his bowl and spoon to the counter. Nodding and giving a brief greeting to the lady washing the dishes, he left them behind.

As Shirou left the cafeteria, he decided to investigate a little. He knew that there were Master candidates here. He himself held the potential to be a Master, if not the reserves to do so.

It was the Rayshift that was problematic. His results were crazy. Abnormal, the outlier, not even on the scale. All that Shirou got out of it, was that the magi that tested him for Rayshift ability had no clue what the results meant. So, they had called their boss. Who scratched his head and called his boss who told him to run a diagnostic on the machine and try again tomorrow.

The next day, the results were the same. So, they called their boss again, asking to start a study on what was causing it. He in turn called his boss, telling him that the results were the same insane results as yesterday. His boss scratched her head, gave permission for them to start tests and then called her boss to report that they had a weird result for a Master trial and asked for them to get in touch with Atlas. Eventually the results made it all the way up to Olga Marie Animusphere herself, who took a look at it, took a look at him, took a look at the researchers surrounding her, and declared that they would examine him after the Singularity had been dealt with and the light of CHALDEA restored but until then they had to make sure that humankind survived! But until then, Shirou was banned from being a Master because due to all the ambiguity in results, they had no clue what would happen. He was just as likely to create a new singularity as he was to arrive safely in one. Now get back to work!

Shirou remembered being very grateful and very disappointed that night. Rayshifting involved transporting the soul through time by creating a body made of Spiritrons, the quantum particles that made up the soul, and attaching it to the human soul. Then the Spiritrons were sent back in time and the soul followed along with it. If they didn't make it safely or Gaia, the soul of the planet that enforced the laws of nature on Earth decided to destroy the Spiritrons, the person's soul might not make it back to their body.

But Shirou's soul was different from the average person or magus. His soul had a full-fledged Reality Marble, or his own world, inside of it. If the researchers had known that, the report to their boss would have been about how they were already vivisecting him which would be rather painful. But if he could have been a Master then he would have already gone back to the Fifth Grail War, be meeting Saber right now, and be about to save the world.

Now that he considered it, Shirou remembered Roman mumbling something about the Master candidates. Did something happen to them? Had the bomber hit them with the explosions? He hoped they were alright.

Shirou reached the infirmary and pressed his identification to the panel. It wasn't needed at the infirmary since it was open to everyone but he had gotten into the habit of pressing it to every door before opening it.

As he entered, he paused. Dr. Roman lay flat out on top of the bed that Shirou had woken up on this morning. His shoes and coat were still on and he lay sprawled over the bed, head on one side while his feet hung over the other side. Shirou could smell a bounded field with a damp scent like that of wet, rich earth, which probably was the healing Bounded Field that Dr. Roman mentioned. But there was also a heavy scent. Shirou yawned as he walked towards another unoccupied bed. A heavy scent remarkably similar to one bounded field that he had encountered while chasing down a Dead Apostle that liked to use sleeping inducing Bounded Fields to weaken living humans. But this didn't smell nearly as bad as the Dead Apostle's Bounded Field had.

 _Clever._ Shirou Emiya thought to himself as he slid under the covers. Leonard had placed a Bounded Field that encouraged Dr. Roman to fall asleep.

 _I now know one thing though_. Shirou Emiya thought to himself as his eyelids drifted shut almost of their own accord. _Leonard is definitely a Caster Class Servant._

* * *

 ** _Looking for a beta-reader_**


	4. Checklist 4: Report in on Time

**From some of the reviewers, I received some questions about the timeline. Yes, this Shirou is from the Fate route of Fate Stay Night. He won the 5th Holy Grail War (although I suppose we should call it the Corrupted Grail Wars, unless you want to call Angra Mainyu holy). How that works in with Chaldea's existence, well, RAFO (Read And Find Out).**

 **For people wondering how the timeline of Fate Grand Order could mesh with Fate Stay Night, it will come out as the story progresses. It will come out faster than it does in Fate Grand Order since Shirou is familiar with Grail Wars and will be wondering about that but it won't be discovered or explained all at once. It is a journey of discovery (that I am still on. Just finished the Fourth Singularity in my game) for the protagonists.**

* * *

 **Check List Item 4: Report in on Time**

 _Chaldea, Antartica_

As Shirou reconnected, removed and replaced wires on the middle level in the dark, 3-tiered command center, keeping an eye on the terminal it was connected to, he listened to the conversation of the coworkers around him. The lights weren't on yet so they had to work by the light of the reddened Chaldeas in the large room that the command center observed.

Dr. Roman, who had not told Shirou yesterday that he was the most senior officer left alive, was in charge of the entire facility including rebuilding efforts, dealing with the attack, managing day to day efforts, and figuring out who to put in command of the various sections in addition to being the busier in the medical office than he had ever been. No wonder the poor guy overworked himself yesterday.

As for Shirou, after a quick check-up, he was declared to be of good health but he wasn't allowed to do anything difficult, any magecraft, or any heavy lifting of any kind. Fortunately, Leonard had used her magecraft to remove most of the debris in the command center and on the platform containing CHALDEA so they didn't have to cart away all the fallen stone and twisted metal. If she hadn't, they could not be trying to restore functionality right now.

Leonardo da Vinci, apparently very few people felt comfortable calling a pretty girl 'Leonard' even if she was a Heroic Spirit, was performing the work of three people put together. Which made sense as Shirou thought about it. Servants didn't need to eat, they didn't to sleep, they didn't even need to take bathroom breaks. Add in that even the weakest Servant had physical abilities far greater than that of a human and you had someone capable of outworking any human any day.

Leonardo had also been placed as the Head of the Technology Development Division. The previous holder of the job had died in the command center's explosion.

"So, is she any good at the job? I mean, if Director Animusphere didn't put her in charge, then old Soukup must have been better."

"Back when the switch over from Director Marisbury Animusphere to Olga Marie Animusphere, I heard that there was an issue of trust between the new director and her. Director Animusphere didn't trust her at all so she gave her position to old man Soukup."

"Really, what for?"

"I don't know. It might have been that Leonardo da Vinci is the Leonardo da Vinci."

"Ha! That's a good one."

"No, seriously. Leonardo da Vinci is the Heroic Spirit Leonardo da Vinci."

"Heroic Spirits, eh? Aren't they those hero guys on the Throne of Heroes somewhere?"

"Yeah. Don't know how they summoned her here though. It is a very costly ritual."

 _That was true._ Shirou thought. _It takes either a Holy Grail, a super-magus like Illya, or a group of magi to summon a Servant._ He had looked into Servants to see if he could summon Saber back to him again. No such luck in having an easy way to get Saber back. The world just hated him.

"You can't actually believe that do you? Everyone knows that da Vinci was a guy and that he never did anything actually heroic. She can't possibly be a Heroic Spirit."

Unless Leonardo da Vinci was secretly a woman all along and history just recorded her gender wrong. Arturia was like that, and some of the swords he saw through Saber's past indicated that a few of her knights were secretly female too like Gareth or Mordred.

"No, you can summon a Heroic Spirit that isn't a hero. They just have to be famous enough and they are on the Throne of Heroes when they die."

"Right and I'm a monkey's uncle."

"You'll have to introduce me to your nephew then. I'll get him a banana."

No, don't. You don't want to see what a mage-craft enhanced monkey can do with a banana.

"Oh, come on. Even if the Throne of Heroes takes anyone that is famous enough, Leonardo da Vinci is a MALE. Clearly our da Vinci is not a guy."

"If he is, I'll date him!"

"Oi! What about your fiancé?"

"What he doesn't know, won't hurt him. Besides, he doesn't like our engagement any more than I do."

So do you hate each other enough that you can't even stand being on the same side of the world as him? Is that why you are working here in Antarctica? May I recommend seeking another fiancé?

"Ooh, Ooh, I heard, that Leonardo used the portrait of Mona Lisa to craft a puppet body for himself and is inhabiting it. That is why he is a girl."

Okay. So Leonardo da Vinci is a transvestite. And is a good enough Caster to actually change his gender. Shirou will never be able to understand the people who end up on the Throne of Heroes.

"So, Leonardo da Vinci is not only a cross-dresser but is also transgender and a crafter of puppets."

"He is from the Renaissance Era. You know that magecraft was stronger back in those days. Not to mention Leonardo da Vinci is a genius among geniuses. Why wouldn't he be able to craft a body molded after the Mona Lisa and inhabit it? He is, after all, a spirit right now."

"I don't believe it. You can dress it up in as many words as you like but Leonardo da Vinci is dead. Dead means that they can't come back."

"Funny coming from a guy who is helping to get our spiritron control room back in operation. We're going to be seeing a lot of dead soon if anyone managed to make it back to the Singularity."

As Shirou eavesdropped, Shirou heard a familiar word from another worker. Following the speaker's voice, Shirou tuned out the three's conversation and turned his head to a conversation between a female analyst and a male control staff worker down at the level below his.

"What do you know about Fuyuki? What could a backwater nation like Japan possibly have that could cause a singularity."

If we exclude Fuyuki's Holy Grail War, the demon-hunters, the demon-hybrid clans, the families of magi, the Blue, the Fifth Magic, and some of the spiritually richest lands in the world? Maybe Gilgamesh for the decade he lived between the 4th and 5th Holy Grail Wars. The jerk was so arrogant that history probably couldn't handle him.

"Not sure. The director and department heads were really quiet about it. It might be something secret."

"Wasn't the Blue from Japan?"

Yes, she is.

"SHHH! Don't jinx us!"

"Sorry, sorry."

"Don't mention the Blue. I was once in the same airport as her. Most frightening day of my life."

Try facing Berserker.

"You crossed paths with the Blue and survived?!"

"No, never even saw her. That was what was so frightening. I didn't know if she would just pop out of nowhere and decide to blow me up for the heck of it."

"Must have been terrifying."

"Oh, it was, it was."

Really, try facing Berserker. If you nearly being in the same place as the Blue was the scariest day in your life, try having Berserker charging to kill you. You'll never be afraid again.

"Getting back to the Singularity, what happened in 2004?"

2004? Wasn't it in February of that year that the Holy Grail War started? Tch. There goes the hope that we were going to go kill Gilgamesh.

"There was a massive earthquake in the Indian ocean. Perhaps it was caused by an Dead Apostle and we are going to have stop it?"

"Glad I'm not one of the Masters then. Even if I did manage to survive the explosion, I'd hate to go up against one of them. Even with a team."

The guy working a level above Shirou's cut in. "That was in December. We're going in at around January - February of 2004."

Shirou's blood ran cold even as hope bloomed in his heart. That was when the Grail War happened. He might see Saber! But how could he save the Masters if they ended up running into any of the Servants?

Shirou drew in a breath and calmed himself. There were other islands in Japan. And Singularities are anomalies in history so it could be possible that Chaldea was going somewhere else.

"Hmm. I heard that Shipman died around then. Some magus tried to steal his research but accidently killed him instead."

"That was England, not Japan. We're visiting a small island just south of Japan."

"Isn't the island part of Japan?"

"Really? But I thought that Japan was an island nation?"

Yes. It is. Surrounded on all directions by ocean. We even have straights between the islands too.

"Yeah, it is an island nation. Japan is only islands. It doesn't have any land on the continent."

"Oh. I thought that island nation meant that the entire nation was just on one island."

Where did you learn your English? Aren't you from Britain?

"Nope, Japan is made of four big islands all together. We're going to the southernmost one."

I don't like where this is going...

"Really? Any idea what happened there that could be so important?"

"I think there was some Grand Ritual that was shut down."

Please don't let this be the Grail War. I want to see Saber again but not if the 48 Masters end up fighting against Gilgamesh. They'll die.

"No, that was 2006 when it was brought up to the Clock Tower Directors. I remember because my cousin got killed by some ancient magus that objected to dismantling the Grand Ritual."

"No, it was February 2004 when the 5th Holy Grail War commenced and ended." Shirou cut in.

"Holy Grail War?"

"Do you know what it is?"

"Some Grand Ritual obviously."

"The Holy Grail War was a series of battles between 7 Heroic Spirits and their Master. At the end, the winner gets to make any wish they want." Shirou summarized.

"Any wish? Like if I wished to become an Average One or get a pair of Mystic Eyes?"

Thinking that small would have been acceptable before the Grail was corrupted but not after they found out. "Any wish." he answered.

"In that case, wouldn't the wish be the cause of the Singularity? Which means that we have to deal with a wish that someone made on the Grail and stop it from endangering the future?"

Shirou shook his head, "Can't be that."

"Why not?"

"Because I never made a wish."

The guy a level below him called out skeptically, "Are you saying that you won the Holy Grail War?"

"Yeah." Shirou nodded. "It turned out that the Grail had been contaminated by a previous Heroic Spirit. if you make any wish on the Holy Grail, it would turn into a cursed wish that caused as much destruction as possible. So, Saber and I decided to destroy the Grail instead."

"Maybe that is what the singularity is. There was supposed to be a wish but instead you got the Holy –"

The entire room lightened up and the janitor a level above Shirou whooped. "Yes! I got it. I got it! It finally works!"

"Good job Boris! Now call Dr. Roman and we can get this room over with!"

* * *

"Master Candidate #38, Ulrich von Finke, do you copy? I repeat, are you there?" Dr. Roman spoke into his microphone as he sat in the chair that he had brought in, while he looked over the panel showing the communication screen into the singularity.

"So, you're the one that claims that he won the 5th Holy Grail War."

Shirou turned from the panel of sensors where he was replacing burnt-out light projectors.

Behind him, stood an imposingly tall, buff Polish Magus named Tom Nawakowski. With thick brown hair and a sharp face, he was almost average except for his physique. His crossed arms were corded thick with muscles and he was no lean, skinny dude despite his face carrying age lines. Brown eyes were locked intently on Shirou and his eyes burned with strong emotion. Shirou remembered that the guy was a somewhat friendly person who had been working at Chaldea for over two decades.

"Yes, that is right." Shirou answered as he stood up to his full height of 187 centimeters. He was tall especially for a Japanese man which, he noted with amusement, meant that the Polish magus had to look up while trying to intimidate him. "I was the Master of Saber and we won the Grail War."

Nawakowski looked at him and grunted, "Not possible. You are a first-generation magus and your potential is rather weak. There is no way you could have summoned a servant strong enough to beat the other masters."

"Hello, #39, are you there? I'm getting bored here and I really hope that someone picks up soon. If Boba Brown picks up it would be great." Dr. Roman addressed the screen.

"Unless," the man slowly nodded his head to himself. "You took someone else's Servant. You found a Servant wandering around after losing its Master, didn't ya."

Shirou scowled. Nawakowski was trying to intimidate him, probably for some stupid reason like making himself look good. But he didn't like the way the man implied that he stole Saber. "Obviously I did. I only accidentally wandered into a summoning circle and found a lost Saber there while being chased by Lancer."

"Hello, #40 Josselin Thevenet. Judging by the silence, I guess that you are not there too." Roman sighed and massaged the sides of his head.

Tom's eyes narrowed as he took a step forward. "You patronizing me? I was here when we decided to get involved in the Fifth War. We intervened and lost one of our best. Roch is dead because of you and your war."

Shirou's mind raced. Roch? Who was that? The master of Berserker was his own sister Illya, Lancer obeyed Kotomine. Caster killed her own Master while Assassin guarded the temple. Rider obeyed Shinji until she died and Archer was Rin's just like Saber was his. Who was Roch then? Was she the magus holed up in Ryuudou Temple commanding Assassin or was she the Master that Caster murdered?

"I am sorry." Shirou apologized. "I didn't meet anyone named Roch. Do you know who her servant was?"

Nawakowski scowled. "Roch was a man. And he was the master of Enkidu."

Shirou shook his head. "Enkidu never appeared in the Grail War. I met all the Servants and Enkidu was not one of them. Unless Enkidu decided to masquerade as Gilgamesh, you have a Servant that never appeared for your friend."

"Shut your mouth!" Nawakowski snarled. "Roch landed in Fuyuki before he went silent. He had the catalyst for Enkidu with him and he knew the summoning Ritual and the importance for getting Enkidu to neutralize Archer! There was no way a man like Roch would ever abandon anything as important as the Fifth Holy Grail War!"

Shirou paused. Apparently, he had struck a nerve. Roch and Nawakowski must have been good friends for Nawakowski to be acting like this. Maybe his last comment was a little insensitive. But he and Saber had fought against all seven Servants. None of them were Enkidu unless Enkidu was Rin's Archer. But Rin had summoned Archer, not whoever Roch was. What had happened? Had there been a Ninth Servant in the Holy Grail War?

"Hello, #41, Baek Seung-Hee. And I'm guessing that like the last 40, you are not picking up." Dr. Roman sighed as another master turned out to be not Rayshifted.

"Look, Nawakowski," Shirou said. If you can't argue against them, then join them. In an argument, total capitulation sometimes helped. Rin, Illya, and Taiga were very successful teachers. "I am sorry that your friend died. One of my best friends also died in the Holy Grail War. I wish that the Grail didn't exist so that all the people who died due to it would still be alive."

Nawakowski's eyes flared with anger and he swung one powerful arm at Shirou causing Shirou to sway to just out of reach. He prepared himself to open his circuits even as Nawakowski yelled "If Roch had won that war, he would have used the wish prepared by Leonardo da Vinci herself to destroy only the infection! You idiot! You –"

His yells devolved into Polish curses, a few of which Shirou recognized from the few times that Illya had thrown a temper tantrum. Hmm. If Illya was alive, he would have to chastise her for swearing in foreign languages. She told him that they were rhetorical statements.

Attention recaptured by Nawakowski's flailing arms as he gestured in time with his curses, Shirou backed off, wincing. Years of experience with interacting with Rin had not done much to solve his problem of offending people. At least it wasn't a woman this time. They could be vicious until he had paid in blood.

"Hey, calm down you two!" Dr. Roman stopped his calls and came down to where they were arguing. "We have plenty to get done and we don't have time to argue. Tom, why don't you get a fix on our paging system? Shirou, could you help with fixing the Sheba monitors? You are our last technician that worked with Lev."

Nawakowski calmed down and nodded briefly. Before walking away, he glared one last time at Shirou, twitched his hand as if he would like to grab Shirou and just twist. If he did, then the mess might be annoying to clean up.

"Shirou, I know that I asked you to work up here since you came from Fuyuki and thus could help with directions or information but it doesn't look like we have anyone in the Singularity. However, we can't have you causing trouble. We need everyone to work together to get this place up as soon as possible and that won't happen if you antagonize others."

Shirou nodded. Nawakowski's issue was a personal one stemming from grief. He could give the man time to grieve. It wasn't like he hurt anyone after all.

"Now, if there is anyone who actually is in Fuyuki, I still want you up here so that we can have you give directions and advise. But if there is no one or if we can get the microphone feed working again, then I want you to take care of the main generators." Dr. Roman continued.

"But the generator is wrecked. I can get it working by using projection, alteration and reinforcement for a bit but it won't last for long, not even an hour." Shirou protested. The geothermal generator alone was broken and containment of the steam was impossible. He wasn't sure as to the petroleum generator, much less the French nuclear reactor.

"Then use the 3D printers or the workshops then. Just get the main generators working again. We need them, and we don't have anyone else who knows how to operate the generators. When Boris finishes his current task, I'll have him sent down to help you. If you teach him what you know, then it will be a huge load off my hands." Dr. Roman answered.

Shirou nodded. "Yeah, I'll get the Sheba monitors next."

Dr. Roman smiled and nodded, giving a slap on the shoulder. "Thanks, Emiya. I don't know where we would be without you."

Dr. Roman turned around and went back to his big fancy seat. Selecting the next Master, Dr. Roman paged the next one, "Hello! You seem to be … not picking up, that's for sure."

Shirou returned to the lightbulbs that he was replacing. He still had a few more to go before he could get down to the Sheba monitors on the first level.

As Shirou continued, to work, he listened to the quiet. The workers here right now were quieter than earlier. It made Chaldea seem like it was haunted by ghosts. Or that Dr. Roman had told them all to be quiet for the purpose of reconnecting to the Chaldea Masters.

"#43, I guess that you are like all the others." Roman sighed. He was getting tired of the non-responses. The power draw by Evocation-Invocation system indicated that there had to be someone who was Rayshifted during the chaos and there were 48 Masters but now it looked like any Masters who had been Rayshifted were killed in the Singularity.

Shirou finished with the last projector and walked up to the second tier. Dr. Roman sat in of the row, in the big chair that he had brought out of the storage panel. Shirou turned to the right and bent down to place a hand on the panel covering the wires.

"Trace On." Shirou whispered. Information flooded his mind as he focused on any hazards such as live wires or shrapnel ready to burst out if he removed the panel.

A few wires were sparking so Shirou grabbed a pair of plastic gloves and put them on before grabbing his toolbox. Oh sure, he could project a screwdriver easily enough, but it felt right to use a physical screwdriver when fixing things. Also, prana wastage was only done by people with more prana than they knew what to do with.

Dr. Roman went on to the 44th Master and said, "Nhamoinesu Jokonya please pick up. I am starting to feel like I am talking to myself out here." Roman twirled a little in his seat. Apparently, the boredom of waiting for a response that hadn't come was getting to him.

Shirou didn't blame him. Swivel chairs were cool, as Big Sis Fuji said when she tried to bring one into the house. Shirou had held firm. Until Illya pouted and demanded one as her computer seat. He thinks Illya spent more time spinning in that chair than she did on the computer. Unless Rin was over. Then Illya couldn't go five minutes without using the computer or miss an opportunity to show off her ability to use one.

Shirou tore off some insulation tape and stuck it on the exposed wires. He wanted to take care of the exposed wires before dealing with the wires that had been severed in the explosion.

As he physically wrapped the braided gold wire strands around the other end before wrapping the formerly live wire with insulation tape, he listened to Dr. Roman switch to the next Master.

"#45, Viorela Musat, are you there? Hi Viorela, this is your non-automated Chaldeas supervisor just wanting to check base with you. Give us a call if you get a chance," Roman parodied an answering machine as yet another master didn't pick up.

A minute passed as Roman waited before moving onto the next Master.

"Hello, #46, Roger MacCrawe. This is the Chaldea Command Room. We are worried that you are not picking up." Roman spoke semi-seriously. Apparently, the worry was starting to set in now.

48 Masters and not one of them responding. And if not them, then who Rayshifted? Could it have been the person who planted the bomb that caused the explosion in the central powerplant?

Shirou pondered on who could have done such a thing. Chaldea wasn't exactly a secret organization, just a classified one. The entire UN General Assembly knew about it. And if they knew, then so did their aides, supporters, and anyone else who had bought out or blackmailed a member.

There was also the Magus Association or the Clock Tower. Some magus might have sought to sabotage the Animuspheres and then use the sabotage to discredit them. Or if they sought to kill Marie Olga Animusphere, then they had succeeded. But then why hit the powerplant too? It didn't make any sense.

Shirou knew about his father's history as the Magus Killer. However, even his father never went for overkill like this. He took out the target and whatever else was necessary to guarantee the kill but he didn't go out of his way to kill targets that weren't on his list. If the saboteur had sought to kill the entire organization, then destroying the entrance or the lifts and the food and the oxygen pumps and the broadcast room would have worked much better than attacking only the command room and the powerplant and leaving everything else alone.

This, this just meant that someone wanted to get caught. Having most of the base get destroyed just before they saved humanity, meant that they wanted every detective and secret service to chase after them. Enough survivors to get the word out but able to cripple or kill off the senior staff and the Masters. And then what? Ah, someone wanted to swoop in and take credit. Make everyone desperate and then issue demands that if not met would doom the world. Whoever it was probably had their own team of Masters ready.

Shirou lips silently curled into a snarl. A hostage situation. Hostage situations really didn't make his day. And this one had the entire human race as its hostage.

"Hello, hello, is there anyone still here? #47, Polunin Vladimirovich, I think you're the last one left." Dr. Roman slumped back into his chair, rubbing his eyes.

A few moments passed and Roman sighed, planting his head onto the panel in front of him. "No Masters in the Singularity. We have no Masters left awake here. Mash is injured by the debris and non-responsive to everything. Same with Ritsuka Fujimaru. Humanity is about to go extinct and there is nothing we can do."

Shirou paused at this. Nothing. They had nothing. Here he was, a spell-caster who wanted to be a hero for justice, and he couldn't even try to save the world. If they couldn't find another Master Candidate, maybe he could bring up his outlier results. And if he was erased by Gaia, oh well, it was better than the extinction of humanity. He straightened up and turned around to go and talk to-

"Wait, Ritsuka!" Dr. Roman straightened up "After the explosion, Ritsuka Fujimaru collapsed in there. There might be a possibility that he Rayshifted. Although without a Spiritron Coffin, it could be dangerous to him. If Gaia catches on and attempts to erase him, then there is no way to call him back in time."

Roman's fingers flew over the virtual keyboard as he started the process of paging the 48th Master Candidate. A pleasant ring sung through the air and Roman's eyes widened in surprise and happiness as a screen into what looked like either hell or a destroyed city on fire popped open in front of him.

"Right, I finally got through! Hello? This is Chaldea Command Room? Do you read me?" Roman excitedly chattered into the microphone.

Shirou sighed in relief. There was a survivor. Hope is not lost. Chaldea can still save humanity.

* * *

 ** **Thanks to Eiskralle1 for betaing this chapter.****

 **This omake was inspired by a reader, Death to Original Naming.**

Mash had woken up, walked to her room, taken a shower, and gotten dressed before she realized that she had woken up in the infirmary and that she was a demi-Servant.

Embarrassed, the girl shifted out of Servant form and into her normal body, with her possession reappearing on her. Including her glasses and communicator.

Her communicator was flashing, indicating that she had a message on it. Bringing up the screen, Mash hit the icon for messages and then the virtual button for replaying missed calls.

The communicator started.

"Saved Messages: 3 missed messages from Doctor Roman."

"First Message from Doctor Roman."

"MASH! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! Your body was found under a ton, A LITERAL TON! of concrete! You better pick-up right now young lady or you will be grounded for an entire month!"

"End message. "

Mash bit her lip. Looks like she managed to dodge a bullet there. She didn't want to be grounded! But that wasn't all that was in her saved messages.

"2nd Message from Doctor Roman."

"MASH! Why haven't you called back yet! I even waited for half a minute! I can still detect your heartbeat, even with the pint of blood on the ground around your body! You better be alive young lady or you will be in big trouble!"

"End message. "

Mash winced. She remembered how she felt when Ritsuka-senpai had tried to help her as she lay buried beneath the rubble. But if Doctor Roman had saw her… She felt sympathy for her father figure. That must have been horrible.

"3rd message from Doctor Roman."

"Mash, it has been an entire minute! Why aren't you answering me? You- OUCH! What are you doing Leornardo?"

"You are the only remaining officer in Chaldea and are now the commanding officer of Chaldea. You need to be assigning people to the best places for them."

"But Mash is-"

"No "buts". Get to work."

"But- OW! Stop pulling on my ear!"

"You can worry about Mash later. She is stabilized so you need to make sure that Chaldea is in condition for rescuers and other medical personnel to come here."

"Let go of my ear! Let go of my ear!"

"End message."

Mash buried her face in her hands, embarrassment evident in her cheeks.

"Doctor Roman…" She whined.


	5. Checklist 5: Eat without Disturbance

**Just going to say it to everyone, there are some changes to the timelines to allow for the unification of both Fate Grand Order and Fate Stay Night into a single timeline. What changes those are will eventually be revealed. If I revealed every plot point and twist early on, who would read the later chapters?**

 **To all those wondering about Roch and his place in the Grail War, RAFO (Read And Find Out)! It will come out in later chapters.**

 **And we finally rejoin the plotline. YAY!**

 **Also, thanks to star, who in his review pointed out that I had spelled Fujimaru as Fujimura last chapter. That has now been fixed.**

* * *

Check List Item 5: Eat Your Food without Disturbance

 _Chaldea, Antarctica_

The holographic screen spun as the focus oriented upon a young woman with pink hair, a large shield, and purplish-black skin-tight armor that flared out into a metal mini-skirt below a vertical opening on her stomach.

 _Well, at least someone thought to wear armor._ Shirou drolly thought as he put down his tools to move closer to the screen. _Even if she left herself open to gut-wounds, at least someone is taking defense into account._ It was rather surprising how many people, Dead Apostles who lived in the Middle Ages, magi, and everyone else forgot that armor protects the body from blows. Even plain armor meant that Shirou had to use to either use a Noble Phantasm to punch through the armor or target an unprotected part. Of course, with the weight and speed of the swords that he shoots, it was a moot point- but it was the principle of the matter.

The young woman, named Mash, smartly responded to Roman's inquiry in the form of a report. "This is Mash Kyrielight, a member of A Team. At this time, I've completed the shift to Singularity F. My sole companion is Ritsuka Fujimaru. Mind and body both intact. Rayshift compatibility, Master compatibility both satisfactory. Please register Ritsuka Fujimaru as an official researcher."

Shirou saw in the background afar off from any of the flames licking the buildings, a young Japanese man. Another Japanese man huh? Japanese, or any Oriental for that matter, was rare in the Chaldeas. Shirou had been one of three before the bomb. Now Ritsuka joined the small group of Asians here. Except one had been killed in the explosion and the other was a Master rendered mortally wounded from the explosion, so the group had shrunk instead of grown.

Dr. Roman sighed in relief. "So Ritsuka also got dragged into the Rayshift, huh? I'm impressed you didn't "lose your existence"" I'm really glad. Also, Mash… Of course, I'm glad that you're safe, too… But what's up with that outfit? It's shameless! I didn't raise you to dress like that!"

Shirou glanced aside at Dr. Roman. He didn't _look_ old enough to have a daughter. Maybe Mash was the product of a teenage indiscretion?

Mash protested Roman's scolding with a blush on her face. "I transformed into this! I couldn't protect Senpai wearing Chaldea's uniform." She seemed to relax in both body and speech from the highly tense state she was in at the beginning of the conversation.

Really? Shirou could see armor helping to protect but he has fought in an apron before. The revenge seekers had interrupted his dinner preparations. Ruined his cheesy cod fish dinner too. He had been looking forward to it… Although why they thought that using magecraft to throw the fish, cutting board, and knife at him was a good opening move, he had no clue.

Dr. Roman frowned in confusion. "What do you mean by transformed, Mash? Did you hit your head? Or was it that…"

"Dr. Roman please be quiet!" Mash yelled, interrupting the Doctor. Calming down after a glance aside to her Master, she continued, "Please check my condition. I think you'll understand the situation better."

Dr. Roman glanced aside to the other holographic screen as his fingers manipulated the keyboard beneath his fingers. "Your physical condition? Who-Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!" he exclaimed "Physical strength, Magical Circuits, everything's improved! You're not so much a human, but -"

"Yes, I'm a Servant."

Shirou started. He had met Mash before and she was not a Servant. Well, she could be an Assassin class Servant, they were supposed to have Presence Concealment. If she had Presence Concealment, then she would have slipped by his nose. She was wearing armor, true, but he had met weirder Servants like the samurai-like Assassin at Ryuudou temple or Rin's Archer who preferred melee.

In that case, Shirou gave a level stare at the image of the girl in armor and the Japanese Master, in that case, she might have been the person who placed the bombs. It would explain how she was still alive and why her Master was the only Master who they could contact. In which case, this sabotage was possibly a plot to get rid of a rival, hidden among the casualty list. Or to get rid of a superior in hopes of getting a promotion.

He really didn't need the additional complications in trying to figure out who had planted the bomb and if they were going to attack again while trying to restore Chaldeas before humanity was destroyed.

On the screen, Mash continued her version of events. "I don't' remember how it happened, but it seems I have survived by fusing with a Servant." She furtively, for less than a split second, glanced aside to the Japanese man next to her before rushing on, "To investigate and resolve Singularity F, a Servant was provided in advance at Chaldea. This Servant lost its Master in that explosion and was doomed to vanish. But at the last second, he offered me a contract. In return for the abilities and Noble Phantasm of a Heroic Spirit, he wanted me to eliminate the cause of this Singularity."

Was that even possible? Wait, hadn't he read an article about that about 8 years ago? Something hypothetical about a hybrid Servant-human mix… It was written by a Lord of the Clock Tower but that was all he could remember. It wasn't able to help him reach Saber.

However what Mash said had the flavor of a secret. Maybe a lie, maybe not. Maybe something not said. His experience working with Rin at the Clock Tower had done him some good in politics. At least enough to recognize when there was something going on behind the scenes. Still didn't stop Rin from kidnapping him whenever he talked too long with someone of high rank. It wasn't like he was going to stab a high-ranking magus until he had to save someone. Just because he did so once didn't mean he was going to do so again just by talking with them.

Dr. Roman mused almost to himself. "A Heroic Spirit and a human fused… A Demi-Servant? That's Chaldea's sixth experiment. I see. So it finally succeeded, huh? Does this Heroic Spirit still have his consciousness?"

Mash glanced down almost like she was ashamed. "...No, he gave me his combat abilities then vanished. He never revealed his True Name even at the end. So I don't even know whose Heroic Spirit I am… …Nor what kind of Noble Phantasm I'm holding." She shifted the shield. "At this point there's too much I don't know."

 _Nor do I know._ Shirou thought. The shield was separated from him by time and space not to mention that it was a defensive weapon. He couldn't get a good read off of it from here. If he was able to cast Structural Analysis on it then he might be able to copy it to his Reality Marble but considering that he was separated from it by a decade, half the world, and a completely different state of matter, it was a little too far.

That being said, he almost emphasized with the girl. He hadn't been told who Saber was for quite a long time into the war. It was only when she unleashed Excalibur on Rider that he realized who Saber really was.

"Hey, look at the bright side," Roman consoled Mash. "Not every Servant who gets summoned is cooperative. Now that you're a Servant, this is in our favor. After all, you're completely trustworthy. Ritsuka, it looks like you're the only one who Rayshifted there safely. Also, I am sorry. Forcing you into this without any explanation. I'm sure you're full of questions but try not to worry. You've already got a powerful weapon. Humanity's most powerful weapon - Mash."

Shirou's eyes narrowed at insinuation that a Servant was a weapon. They were people. He refused to accept that Servants were only familiars. They were as much a person as anyone else despite having superior capabilities to mankind.

"I don't know about 'most powerful.'" Mash grumbled. "I'm the one who gets blamed later."

"Now, now, as long as Ritsuka understands that's what a Servant is, it'll be fine." Roman cheerfully brushed past Mash, ignoring Mash's displeasure at his dismissal of her complaint even as the screen flickered for a split second. "But Ritsuka, while Servants can be reliable allies, they also have a weakness. They disappear without their magical energy source. Their Master. I'm still analyzing the data," Roman waved towards the other screen filling up with data. "but it's indicating that Mash has become your Servant. Meaning that you're Mash's Master. She's the first Heroic Spirit you've entered a contract with."

Ritsuka blinked in surprise and bemusement before catching some of the meaning of what had just flown by him. "Mash's master? Wait! What do you mean Master? I don't understand how or what-" he cut off as he saw the red symbols on the back of his hand. The screen flickered again.

Shirou wondered if this was how Saber felt when she first contracted with him all those years ago. Ritsuka was looking at his Command Seals in confusion much like Shirou had in that shed when he became a Master in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

Shirou moved Ritsuka down the list of potential candidates for the enemy that bombed Chaldea. Ritsuka obviously knew nothing about Masters and Servants. So he was either a hypnotized victim, a low-level peon without complete information, or a very good actor. But right now, he seemed to know nothing about Fuyuki's Grail War. So he was another innocent caught up in this hostage situation.

Roman sought to assuage Ritsuka's confusion. "Right, I don't blame you for being confused. I never explained what Masters and Servants are to you, anyway. Now's a good time, I'll explain it to you in detail. The current mission has two new goals…"

Mash once again interrupted Dr. Roman. "Doctor, you're breaking up. 10 seconds until the connection is lost."

Dr. Roman's eyes scrolled across the monitors as he started typing rapidly. "Huh, so SHEBA's output is unstable because we switched to the backup generators?" He shrugged even as his hands continued flying over the keyboard. "Oh well, I'll brief you later. Both of you, I'm getting a strong leyline reading about 2 km from where you are. Try to get there somehow. That way, it will stabilize our connection. Listen, don't do anything reckless, will you? I'll try to bring the power back up as soon as we get the gener-"

The hologram cut out, the image into the burning Fuyuki vanishing. The small bird's-eye-view map of Fuyuki had a network of glowing blue lines that matched what he remembered of Tohsaka's map of the leylines of magical energy that were inside the borders of Fuyuki. A big blue dot showed the location of the 48th Master and there were brighter blue dots where leyline intersected.

Roman sighed before swiveling in his chair to face Shirou, who was standing next to the acting Director. "Sorry Shirou, I knew I asked you to help guide them, but until they get a Leyline Terminal set up, can you wait? I need to look over this data first to make sure there is no detrimental effects on Mash – oh and Ritsuka too - but until then, take a break and have some lunch. Tom has the paging system up and running now so if you finish lunch early, can you work on the generators until they call us back? I think Nadja and Boris is working on the nuclear reactor right now."

* * *

As Shirou walked from the cafeteria counter, right now only manned by two of the cafeteria ladies since the third had been assigned to help in the repairs, he observed the other employees.

There was the gardener and fish farmer sitting over at that table in the corner. While neither were magi, they were here keeping a steady supply of fresh food since both Directors had wanted Chaldea to be self-sufficient in case of emergencies. It didn't hurt that fresh food picked on the day it ripened was better than imported food.

Shirou nearly snorted. Englishmen. Their country didn't have many good native foods, which explained Saber's like for his cooking. He found that the average traditional English dish was rather bland for his taste but that foreign restaurants were rather common. But you could still expect the Lords of the Clock Tower to be food snobs.

Well he wasn't complaining. Eating good food was its own treat and one day he would be able to make some for Saber when he joined her. But for now, he had lunch.

Today's lunch was fish and chips with a nice garnished salad and tartar sauce. The English did like their fish and chips. At least he could look forward to the curry tonight. He was still trying to determine what were all the spices they used for it.

He could have used structural grasp but that would be like cheating. He wanted to be a good chef not a chef that cheated. Your food wasn't worth it if you used magecraft to force it to be good rather than your own skill.

Besides, while his prana reserves and efficiency had grown since the end of the Grail War, he still was only above average in terms of power output. Skimping and saving his power for emergencies was merely common sense. Especially when he had no guarantee that the saboteur would not strike again.

Shirou was still on a doctor's orders diet of light meals and drink liquids slowly. Wasn't the first time he had been on a diet as ordered by a doctor, especially after he started his adventures. The first couple of tries he had made at crafting Elf-shot had laid him up with the elven curses running throughout his body.

But he had persevered. It helped that elf-shot was a mixture of enchanting onto a weapon and casting a spell simultaneously. Which was something that was alien to any human magus but Shirou had his Reality Marble. It took care of the crafting while he focused on making his magic circuits put out a good imitation of the Fae mystery.

The result of his studies really didn't reflect in the mysteries he had though. He hadn't learned many new spells over the decade since the Holy Grail War. But he did get something else out of it.

His Reality Marble's weapons that had been made by the Fae were cheaper to project. As he had gained in knowledge of how the Fae, their minds, and their magic worked, the cost of replicating their crafted weapons decreased. His most recent estimate was that he now wasted 8.5% less Prana than when he had first projected Caliburn.

As Shirou sat down at the table next to Aidan Farmer, Chaldea's farmer, and Caleb Fisher, Chaldea's water manager and fish farmer, he noticed the glances that the other employees shot at him. Something was going on. Even Aidan and Caleb were shifting uneasily around him.

Well, first things first, he needed to have lunch. He was still healing from the explosion in the central powerplant.

Saying a brief, "Thanks for the food." in his native Japanese. Shirou grabbed a fried fish and popped it in. Not bad. Above their usual quality for fish and chips.

"So, how is your day going?" Shirou started off. No need to not be friendly.

"Fine." Caleb grunted. He wasn't a talkative fellow.

Aidan snorted. "We had to investigate for sabotage in every part of the farms and waterways. What do you think?"

"Ah," Shirou nodded. "Judging by the fact you are eating, I would presume that nothing was poisoned?"

Caleb gave him a look. It was a very expressive look. In fact, Shirou had seen him carry on entire conversations just giving certain looks. It wasn't the award winner for most awkward conversation but it was the runner-up.

Except for Aidan. Aidan was fluent in understanding Caleb. Just a guess, but it might have been from them both being non-magi but having worked in Chaldea's base for over 20 years now. Add to the fact that for efficiency's sake, the rice was grown in the same place as some of the fish were raised and you had the two running into each other all the time.

"Well the pipes beneath the control room and to the central powerplant are rather high in mineral levels but not a health risk." Aidan chattered on. "Of course, if you had planted the bombs you would know that."

Shirou in the middle of eating a French fry, sputtered and coughed. The coughing fit continued for a bit.

"You see," Aidan said to Caleb. "He didn't place the bombs, regardless of his dad being some serial killer."

Caleb gave Aidan a look.

"Well, yes he could be pretending or shocked that we figured out it was him but does that sound like him?"

Caleb contorted his face a little.

"If he was that good of a hit man, he wouldn't be here now would he? He would have left with his pay."

Shirou finished coughing. "What?"

He hadn't planted any bombs. Why would he-

Oh.

The Magus Killer.

His dad's reputation. The man who could kill even a magus that knew he was coming for them. Unstoppable, mysterious, unbeatable, guaranteed success, and your life is forfeit. Having his name be associated with Shirou's hadn't done any favors in becoming a hero.

Come on Dad, I know that you wanted to save more lives than you took but did you have to become the magus' bogeyman to do it?

"I knew that you don't believe it Caleb but asking hypothetical questions like that won't help us get in contact with the outside any sooner," Aidan continued his conversation.

Caleb actually grunted at that.

Shirou was surprised. Caleb rarely grunts. He would say the bare minimum to be polite and use brief noises as his emphasizers in conversations with people he was comfortable with. The last time he grunted, it was because his niece had surprisingly given birth to triplets. Cute kids too, judging by their baby pictures but their mother was more of a waif than a big woman that you would expect to be capable of giving birth to triplets.

"Well they're _magi_ , Caleb. Unlike Shirou here they don't think like we do."

Another face.

"Well, Shirou at least can understand how we think, even if he believes in some of those crazy tales and thinks he can somehow join them. But that's not worse than our old neighbor, eh?"

A stare now.

Shirou wished that he could understand Caleb. Years of interacting with him and Aidan but he still needed a word or something to read Caleb's facial expressions.

But there was a sound of footsteps rushing towards them. It was faster than a person carrying a tray of food would go and no one else sat at their table. Shirou tensed up.

"You!" a female voice roared out.

Shirou didn't jump but he was wary now. Nothing good came of people roaring your name like that. Although, Taiga's yell was more of an indication that she was about to eat all your food again.

Shirou turned around to see Lyudmilla Bjolidarovna Baran, a black haired, slender average South-Eastern European. Her naturally olive skin color ignored the fact that most of Chaldea's researchers hadn't seen daylight in years. However, her dark brown eyes were fired up and more vibrant than he had seen her act before. Not to mention her anger seemed to be in control of this normally loud and active young woman.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you killing us!" She yelled.

Shirou blinked. What was she talking about? "Huh?"

"You're the Magus Killer's son! The successor to the Emiya name!" She yelled, her voice ringing through the cafeteria. "You are the one who killed Gilliah! You're the one who planted bombs and killed everyone!"

Shirou shook his head. "No! I didn't plant any bombs."

"Liar!" She yelled, face darkening with rage. "The Magus Killer specialized in using explosives. This has all the hallmarks of being his work!"

Shirou paused. Everyone in the cafeteria, as empty as it was with only a dozen people, was staring at him and Baran. Over half of the survivors of Chaldea were here. Judging by their expressions and the way they had been uneasy around him, they believed that he was the saboteur.

But they were wrong. Dad would never have attacked here unless it was to kill a traitor. He wanted to save humanity and attacking and interfering with the First Order would kill so many more than he could save. Dad would be more likely to kill whoever tried to hire him to attack here.

But they didn't know that. Dad was the magus bogeyman, the terrifying being who could bring death to any magus, regardless of ability, talent, or experiment. Magus walked with death but even they feared death when it struck seemingly at random.

What to do now? Shirou's mind raced. He couldn't persuade them that he isn't the one to plant the bombs because most of them already believed that he was the one to who planted the bombs. He would need to point them to the real culprit before they would believe his protestations of innocence. But he had no idea of who planted the bombs!

He could make himself into the scapegoat but that would be pointless. It would allow the real saboteur to move around freely, possibly create another tragedy, create a witch hunt environment, and impose needless restrictions upon him.

All he can do is continue declaring his innocence, preferably in the form of logic. Tohsaka made sure that he learned how to explain morality in terms of cost and benefit when he started working with Enforcers. Otherwise Shirou would have ended up fighting his co-workers as much as their target and the bystanders would die in the cross-fire.

"Dad sometimes used bombs, but if wanted to kill us, he would have targeted the life support systems! He wouldn't do something as clumsy as only destroying the generators and command center." Shirou raised his voice. He had to make it clear that he was innocent, otherwise

"Oh but you did more than that! You sabotaged all of the external communication systems! We can't contact anyone to ask for help!" What! But that would mean that the hostage situation was being addressed to the UN or Clock Tower, not Chaldea. Who is the target? This was just making less and less sense. "So fix it! Fix whatever you did right now!"

"I didn't do anything! I was down in the central powerplant when the bombs went off!" Shirou protested.

"And you were the only survivor!" She cried out, latching onto his defense. "Everyone else in the command center or powerplant died when the bombs went off! Even the Masters are closer to dead than alive!"

"Hold on, I was unconscious up until yesterday. I just got really lucky that the explosion didn't hurt anything vital." Shirou pointed out. He was losing the argument. Baran was more passionate and had better logic on her side. If this kept up, then all Chaldea would be paying attention to him and ignoring the real threat which could strike again and finish everyone off.

But his mind picked over what she had said. Communications were down? Despite there not being a bomb in the upper levels of Chaldea? There had to be a reason why the saboteur ceased all communications to and from Chaldea. They had been working fine up until the explosion. But with the bombs planted to target the leaders, why would they want to cut off communication? It would just make their position stronger to be able to show how much damage they could do to Chaldea.

Unless this wasn't a hostage situation? Was this an attempt by someone to wipe out the leadership of Chaldea in order to open up some positions for advancement?

Hostage or assassination. Hostage was bad because that meant that they were still in danger. Assassination meant that the threat was probably over but they had successfully shown that Chaldea, for all of its defenses, was vulnerable to attack. Not a good thing for an organization dedicated to the triumph of humans, when the world was full of entities hostile to humanity.

"Luck or planning?" Baran asked ominously, eyes narrowing. "If someone knew that the bombs were about to go off, then they could have defended themselves against it. And you didn't show up until _after_ the basement powerplant was running."

"I was unconscious! I only recovered enough to get the only other person alive out of the room." Shirou defended himself. "If I had been in better condition, I would have saved more people."

"Saved? SAVED! We would have been just fine if you hadn't –" Baran yelled, voice raising as she continued.

"This is enough!"

Shirou turned towards the man who interrupted, a blond Englishman with dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept since the explosion went off. Shirou actually didn't know this guy. He was always busy tinkering with something down in the machinery area and never interacted with anyone else unless it was about his projects.

Shirou would have sighed. What is up with all these people who keep on pushing themselves beyond their limits? It was like Chaldea was overstaffed with the workaholics who never stopped to consider themselves.

"We need to fix Chaldea before we can get back to our work. You two arguing is just going to slow down the work." The man relentlessly argued his points, counting each point off on his fingers. "On the off chance that one of us actually did attack Chaldea, then they are trapped with us right now. If we do find a traitor, then we will have to guard that person, which means that reconstruction efforts will be slowed down even more. If reconstruction efforts take longer, then we can't return to our research projects. So shut up and finish lunch so you can get back to work!"

At that, the blond man stomped off towards the cafeteria doors, leaving behind silence as the entire cafeteria stared after him.

Baran shook herself and whirled on Shirou. "I won't let you walk around free, killing more people, Magus Killer! You better get ready to pay for all the lives you took!"

She stormed off towards the door, only to stop and walk back to her lunch, grabbing the tray and take it to the dish-washing counter before rushing off to the doors and leaving.

While all that went on, Caleb and Aidan finished their lunch.

"Well, good luck Shirou," Aidan patted Shirou on the back. "Hope you are innocent."

Aidan and Caleb took their lunch trays over to the dishwashing counter and handed it off to the dish-washing lady there before strolling off through the doors, heading back to work.

Shirou just took a quick scan over the cafeteria. Many people avoided meeting his eyes, including the kind old (Cafeteria lady). It looked like they thought that he was the saboteur or assassin.

Shirou sighed and ate another bit of fish.

The day just got worse. He hated days like these. They came by far too often.

* * *

 **Thanks to Eiskralle1 and shadyxlr for betaing this chapter.**


	6. Checklist 6: Use a Map if Lost

**Chapter 6: If at any Point, You get Lost, Use Your Communicator to Display the Map of the Facility**

 _Chaldea, Antarctica_

Nadja pointed to a part on the diagram for Boris to see. "This is where the nuclear energy generated heat boils the water and converts it to steam. When the bomb exploded, this closed loop ruptured, and all the water exploded out."

Boris gulped, looking down at his feet. "So, the radioactive water here…"

Nadja absently nodded. "The water went down there. Which is why we are all wearing these full body suits." She waved along the yellow, heavy suits that the three of them were wearing.

Boris stammered "So, we are wearing radioactive proof suits so we don't die?"

"Oh," Nadja waved it away. "The radiation won't kill you."

Boris sighed in relief before Nadja continued. "It is the damage to the genetics that will cause you to suffer from cancer and other ailments. But that would take a while and I've already cleaned up the water and put in containment. What we need to do now is check for excessive damage to the pipes and fix any holes that may have been, which is what Shirou is doing. His magecraft is suited to finding those holes and damages. You will be removing those damaged pipes and replacing them while I find the next things that we need to fix." She waved around the diagram in her hand.

Shirou continued listening while using Structural Analysis on the next section of pipe. It felt sort of weird to use Structural Analysis in front of others but unlike in high school, everyone here already knew about magecraft.

As Shirou continued listening, he went over what he knew about his current two coworkers. Nadja had survived the explosion by virtue of falling asleep in a chair at a breakroom while getting ready for the Rayshift. She had been so excited over the Rayshift that she had neglected to sleep the day before, which inadvertently had saved her life as most of the other researchers had been watching in the command room when the bombs went off. Or had it been intentional for her to fall asleep and miss the explosion?

Nadja was a member from a new Magus family that focused on radioactivity. She knew all the science and magecraft that related to a nuclear reactor. She was, however, a researcher more focused on analyzing radioactive materials and particles such as the Spiritrons than an engineer. She knew nothing about how the machinery worked or even knew how to read the diagram she was holding. She, like the rest of Chaldea, had to learn on the spot how to read diagrams, find damages, and repair machines. But she was trained in how to operate the reactor safely and knew the theory, which made her better suited to fixing the reactor than everyone else. Well, other than Leonardo. But the Heroic Spirit was busy fixing other things so Nadja was here.

Sensing a dent, Shirou waved over to Boris and Nadja. "Here, this pipe needs to be replaced. It has a dent from metal ricochet." He called out, marking the segment with his black marker.

Boris gulped. The janitor took a glance at the manual he was reading before approaching the pipes with all the caution of a man having to approach a poisonous viper.

Shirou almost snorted as he moved on the next pipe. The area wasn't dangerous now, especially with them wearing thick suits to protect against irradiation. But Boris was just a normal janitor and knew almost nothing about the machinery, science, magecraft, or even the research being done here. But he could read the manuals for the machinery and he was here, which was enough in Chaldea's sudden manpower shortage.

Nadja examined the diagram on which she had overwritten some descriptions in one corner. It had taken her some time to learn how to read the diagrams and she could safely say that she still had trouble remembering what icon meant what. So, she followed Dr. Roman's advice to the all the survivors in working with a manual open or with a cheat sheet.

"Okay, so we are working on the closed steam system and the coolant for the reactor is still good along with the fuel and the reactor core, so the next part would be ... Ah. Need to make sure that there is no containment breach for either the inner or outer containment chambers. Which means…" Nadja trailed off as she mumbled to herself and moved both hands along her chart and diagram.

"Hey Shirou! After you finish up the pipes, would you mind checking the outermost layer of the core?" the German magus called out.

Shirou raised his eyebrows. "Wouldn't that be the first order of business? Most people prefer not to have a radioactive plant leaking in the vicinity."

Nadja laughed a little awkwardly as she scratched her arm. "Well, the Geiger counter said that the radiation was high all over the room, so I figured that we should deal with the escaped radioactive water first…" She trailed off embarrassedly.

Shirou shook his head. He could follow her thoughts. She had thought that the water needed to be taken care of first, so she had. Then she went to make sure that more radioactive water wouldn't come out from the hole and become a recurring problem.

Well, Shirou didn't know the safety procedures for repairing a nuclear reactor either so she was good on that regard.

His wrist communicator beeped once before opening a blue hologram of Dr. Roman. The refreshed doctor waved cheerfully.

"Hey Shirou! Do you mind coming up to the Control Room? TRISMEGISTUS indicates that Mash and Ritsuka are on top of the Leyline Terminal and should be activating communications with us at any moment."

Shirou nodded to the hologram and took his hands off of the pipes. The last segment was still fine anyways. "All right, I'll be up there in a few minutes."

"Thanks Shirou. With everything the way it is, they'll probably appreciate having a guide." Dr. Roman said gratefully. "See you soon!"

The hologram shut itself off.

Shirou took out the black sharpie that he had hanging off of his belt before marking the pipe he was working on. When he came back, he wanted to be able to continue where he had left off without missing a piece or rechecking a segment he had already checked. All the employees of Chaldea were pressed for time as it was.

"What?" Nadja complained. "But we still need to check for containment! It will take even longer for us to get the reactor up again without help."

"I know," Shirou replied. "But if the last Master dies in Fuyuki, humanity will die as we don't have anyone able to stop the Singularity. I'll be back down here later, after helping Fujimaru and Mash."

"All right," Nadja subsided with a pout. "Just hurry back down here. I can't analyze as fast as you can and I want to get this done with as soon as possible."

"Okay," Shirou replied as he took a step away from the pipe. "Oh, and before I forget, this pipe with the mark is good too. No need to worry about any of the pipes besides the ones I pointed out, on that side of the mark."

"…Thanks," Boris sort-of half grumbled and half-mumbled as he unscrewed a segment of pipe that needed to be replaced. He didn't seem to like Shirou. Possibly believed the rumors that Shirou was the one to plant the bombs that so recently wiped out most of Chaldea.

Shirou nodded in acknowledgement before leaving through the three-person wide door. Boris was a nice guy. He still was polite even in his distrust towards Shirou. Sort-of refreshing compared to the last time he had hunted down a Sealing Designate that didn't want to come quietly. On that occasion, both his fellow Enforcers and the Sealing Designate had been the type to spit in a person's eye just because they had a bad day.

* * *

As Shirou approached the Central Control Room, he heard the pounding of feet on the ground. Muscles tensing, Shirou slid to a more combat ready stance. Opening his Magic Circuits, Shirou prepared a few swords in his Reality Marble to project at a moment's notice.

Shirou had been expecting an attack. When he had woken up in the infirmary this morning, he had realized that he was one of the few remaining technical experts here at Chaldea. Whoever had sabotaged Chaldea had specifically gone after the powerplants, the engineers, and the technicians despite killing almost the entire leadership at the Control Room. Therefore, one of the saboteur's objectives had to have included the technical workers as an obstacle. Or at least, Shirou amended his thought, they needed the power to stay off for a time.

If the power coming back on soon was such a danger to the saboteur's plans, then they would try to kill whoever could speed up the power getting back on. Which meant that he, Nadja, and Boris were in danger of assassination.

Shirou tried to make it easy on them by using himself as bait. Now it was about to pay off. As the sound of footsteps echoed around the turn in the corridor, Shirou tensed and brought his hands to position.

A long orange haired man in a white coat barreled around the corridor, nearly colliding with Shirou, who managed to halt himself from decapitating the man, before the man whirled around him while still trying to run as fast as he could.

"Sorry about that!" Dr. Roman yelled over his shoulder without stopping.

Shirou blinked. He hadn't expected that. Guess it was just a false alarm. Feeling a little silly, Shirou brought his hands down from where they ready to grab the almost traced copies of Kanshou and Bakuya,

He shrugged. Nothing to it other than to continue on his way. As Shirou continued towards the Control Room, he was mindful of traps. He was still expecting an attack and he couldn't rule Dr. Roman out as a culprit yet.

After all, just because Dr. Roman hadn't attacked him here, didn't mean that he might decide to shoot him in the back if Dr. Roman happened to be the saboteur. Or there could be someone around the corner ready to strike.

Unfortunately for Shirou's paranoia, there wasn't anyone there. It would be relieving to have this cloak and dagger stuff dealt with and over soon. He wondered how Saber would deal with this. He grinned. Besides telling him to deal with the natural enemy of her stomach while she waited of course.

As Shirou stepped through the door of the Central Control Room, he noticed that the center spot where the Director of Chaldea usually worked was occupied by a chair with a pair of functioning holographic screens open. Around the central spot, there were a few Chaldean Employees still trying to get the other monitors and sensors working so that Chaldea could use their great tools like SHEBA, LAPLACE, and TRISMEGISTUS working properly again.

One of the two screens had an image of a white-haired European aristocrat's face open on it while the other displayed what information they could get from the low power mode that TRISMEGISTUS was operating in. Somehow the Director of Chaldea, Olga Marie Animusphere, had managed to end up in Fuyuki of 2004.

As Shirou approached the chair, he listened to Animusphere's remarks to whoever was with her but was not visible from the screen.

"… if only Lev were here!"

"Unfortunately," Shirou said dryly. "Most of Chaldea's leadership was here in this room when they died in the explosion. Which implies that I am likely standing over where some of his blood likely landed, so in the unlikely event that you accept his bodily remains as 'him being here', he is actually still here."

Director Animusphere turned and glared at Shirou.

Shirou instantly felt contrite.

The Director had a temper and made sure that everyone knew it. She acted on it and even fired an occasional person because of it.

But at the end of the day, she was an effective boss. Chaldea had its funding, eyes were kept on CHALDEA for any possible threat to humanity, people got paid, and experiments were done. That was the hallmark of at least an adequate boss. Shirou just knew that he was glad he didn't have to do her job. He would probably end up spending most of his time in the kitchen just to deal with all the stress. Rin had often complained to him of having to deal with the Lords of the Clock Tower despite not even interacting with one of them on even a weekly basis.

Regardless of how hard her job might be, Shirou still wished that she wasn't glaring at him right now. Even if his joke went splat. Badly.

"And why is there a mere technician sitting in that chair?" Animusphere asked as icily as the blizzard coated realm outside Chaldea. Which might be where he would be assigned to next if he didn't give her an answer soon.

And that blizzard was really cold. He had had to chip ice off before so that aircraft could land. The winds and snow just blew right through any protection you wore.

"I figured that since the internet with its assorted maps is down along with poor communication with Chaldea's databases, you might appreciate having a person who grew up in Fuyuki give you directions, guidance, and help in regards to the layout of Fuyuki." Shirou answered.

As the gaze grew less icy and more fiery, Shirou could almost feel those freezing winds biting through the thick layers he might soon be wearing.

"And why is this only being brought up now?" Animupshere asked.

Shirou blinked. Oh. So that is why they never asked him to help in regards to Fuyuki. They had forgotten to check their employee's backgrounds.

It was on his resume, the resume he kept for magecraft related jobs, for crying out loud! It even said that he had participated in the 5th Holy Grail War and his home address was still in Fuyuki but in the rush to save humanity and to prepare adequately, it probably had just slipped everyone's minds to check their employee's backgrounds.

Shirou grimaced. And he had assumed that bringing it up with his boss would eventually make it up the line of command. But he had forgotten that his boss was a magus that had grown up in America, where people were blunter and less subtle. The poor guy probably hadn't understood that Shirou wanted the Director to know that Shirou had some experience with the field. And why didn't Lev Lainur bring it up anyways? Professor Lainur was a friend to Director Animusphere and he had known that Shirou was from Fuyuki. Maybe it just slipped his mind?

Anyways, Shirou had to answer the Director's question. "It was on my resume. I figured that that was part of Chaldea's database so anyone looking through it would have quickly found it out. Also, I told my boss Terrell that I was from Fuyuki. I had hoped that it would have made it up the line of command."

"Stupid Drake," Director Animusphere muttered. Drake had been the head of the Human Resources Department before she died. "Why didn't you tell me that we had a local on staff?" She looked up at Shirou. "You there! Were you in Fuyuki during 2004? Do you know what is going on here?"

"Yes." Shirou nodded somberly. "You are looking at the 5th Holy Grail War, so be careful. Especially as it looks like you are facing the consequences of someone making a wish on the Holy Grail before it was destroyed."

Director Animusphere's eyes snapped to him. "Explain yourself," she commanded. "What do you mean that the Holy Grail was destroyed?"

Shirou winced. He would have to explain the circumstances of the war all over again. And the director preferred a more military style with brief explanations. So summarize. _And quickly!_ He added as her glare grew more intense.

"Yes ma'am! In the course of the 3rd Holy Grail War, a defeated Avenger Servant managed to corrupt the Holy Grail, turning it into a monkey's paw that would achieve any wishes made on it by the route of maximum destruction. When this was revealed to me and Saber," _Leave Rin out of the explanation, if it got out that she was part of the decision to destroy the Holy Grail, she would face charges and interrupt her work and standing at the Clock Tower. Which is why she forbade me to mention that I destroyed the Holy Grail to any member of the Clock Tower. Good thing Chaldea is independent._ "we decided that we would rather destroy the Holy Grail than get our wish in such a way that would destroy the city again. As such, I used my last Command Seal to order Saber to destroy the Holy Grail before any wish was made on it."

"I see." Director Animusphere mused. "So, there shouldn't be any Servants here anymore. Well that's a relief. Did Fuyuki have a skeleton problem or was there a magus that specialized in necromancy?"

Shirou blinked. "No… but Caster did have an army of Dragon Tooth Warriors that she liked to use."

"Dragon Tooth Warriors?" Director Animusphere frowned even as Mash Kyrielight and Ritsuka Fujimaru wandered into the background to sit on some rubble during the video call. The summoning chamber was able to be projected across a Rayshift in order to let Chaldea summon materials from a Rayshift into Chaldea and vice-versa so anything inside the virtual projection also existed in Chaldea. But it took an enormous amount of energy to transfer the contents of the room across, energy that was not available at the moment, not to mention the damage done to the Rayshift System. Fortunately, the room was rather large so the two had a selection of rubble to use as their seats. "But you said that this would be after the Holy Grail War!"

"Um," Ritsuka Fujimaru spoke up, raising his hand before flinching back as the Director shot a glare at him. "I'm just wondering but, what is a Dragon Tooth Warrior?"

Shirou inclined his head, searching his memory for when Caster had attacked his home and answered. "A Dragon Tooth Warrior looks like a skeleton. It wields weapons like these-" He projected copies of a Dragon Tooth Warrior's sword, axe, spear and bow briefly, making sure that they were fully visible in the camera view on Chaldea's side. "and instead of a skull, they just have a jaw full of fangs on top of their head."

"That isn't what we've seen so far, Director," Mash said. "All the skeletons so far have had skulls."

"Right," the Director sighed. "You don't know anything about the skeleton foes. How useless. Anyway, what can you tell us that might actually be relevant?"

Shirou took the insult and ignored it. "Since a Singularity has history derailed from the proper course, the Holy Grail could have manifested at any one of the four locations." He recalled from his conversations with Rin about the history of the Holy Grail Wars. "The one I saw was at Ryuudou Temple but it could also manifest at the Tohsaka manor, the Fuyuki Church or in Fuyuki Central Park. Based on the map here, you are currently standing over the Tohsaka manor."

"This is the Tohsaka's house?" the three on the other side of the screen looked around, trying to see any trace of the house while standing in the transparent projection of the summoning experiment chamber. Shirou looked at the background and frowned. There didn't appear to be anything still standing, not even a wall or a floor that might indicate that this used to be Rin's home. Director Animusphere turned back to him with a raised eyebrow, indicating her disbelief. "Clearly not."

What was going on? This was Fuyuki but why were they at the Tohsaka manor but the manor is not even intact enough to be rubble?

Shirou abruptly remembered some of the theory he had had to learn in order to work here. Singularities were "stains" on human history. They were more similar to what-ifs than anything else. What if Tohsaka's manor had been destroyed and Rin killed before he was stabbed by Lancer? What if Japan had won World War II? The aberration against history needed to be corrected so that humanity could survive.

"I would guess that the Singularity had some Servants fight there as everything is rubble. Except I don't recall anyone ever fighting there. All the fights took place at Ryuudou Temple, my home, the Eiznbern castle, the forest around the castle, Homurahara Academy, the Church, and a skyscraper and some streets in Shinto on the other side of the river. Despite Archer and Rin being there, no one attacked ever them in their home." Shirou replied to their disbelief.

Animusphere sighed again in frustration, "Great, just great! Even the guide is useless! No one is here, history is changed, we just missed the Holy Grail War that might have caused this destruction and probably is the source for the Singularity, skeletons are running around despite there being no one who could have made them, everything is either rubble or on fire, and we have no idea what caused the light of CHALDEA to go out!" She panted in anger from her tirade before whirling on Shirou. "Is my Chaldea at least fixed yet?"

"I was in the Central Powerplant, helping to put the nuclear reactor back online," Shirou said steadily, all the while meeting the orange eyes of the Director. "Everyone here is working hard at repairs despite almost all of our engineers dying in the explosion."

"Good," Director Animusphere nodded. "At least some of you are working hard."

The door slid open and Dr. Roman rushed through. He bent over, hands clutching his knees as he panted for breath.

"Don't speak of the devil and he will still appear," Animusphere muttered under her breath.

Shirou didn't have anything to say to that. Dr. Roman was a very laid-back guy. Pleasant to be around during a break but he wasn't nearly as bad as the Director said.

Catching his breath, the doctor straightened up and walked over. "So, what did I miss?"

"Dr. Roman," Director Animusphere began. "As you are the only high-ranked member still on site, you will give me a report on the condition of Chaldea. What of the Master Candidates?"

"As pertaining to your instructions, all 46 injured Master Candidates have been put into cryopreservation with the only exceptions being Mash Kyrielight and Ritsuka Fujimaru, whose bodies are still in the Rayshift Chamber. Both are stable and should be able to receive their spirits back after the Rayshift is finished and the retrieval process complete. As for the rest of the state of Chaldea, …"

Shirou Emiya shrugged as Director Animusphere continued to listen to Dr. Roman's report on the condition of Chaldea with the occasional question for clarification. He wasn't needed for this part and frankly, he didn't want to listen to how bad the damage was and what was being done. He couldn't help or save anyone by listening in.

He decided to follow his natural inclination and joined the workers in getting the Central Control Room back into serviceable condition.

* * *

 _Fuyuki, 2004, Singularity F_

"Roger that. Best of luck to you, Director. We can now communicate in short bursts. Feel free to contact me in an emergency." Roman acknowledged the recent instructions that she had just given.

Olga Marie Animusphere scoffed at Roman's words. Couldn't the lackadaisical fool see that there would be no point in contacting him in an emergency? "Even if we sent an SOS, nobody would come to our rescue." She pointed out.

The image of the head of the medical division seemed to waver at her words. Ugh, even with the Leyline stabilizing her side, the damages to Chaldea were still apparent. But she needed to get some more information. If this was the aftermath of a Grail War, even one that didn't correspond to history, there would still be some points that should bear investigation. That lowly technician, whose name she couldn't remember at the moment, should at least know those points.

"Anyways, put the local back on and return to your job. I need to know of any places to avoid if we are to discover the source of this Singularity," Olga commanded Roman.

"At once, Director," Roman bowed the head in a brief nod before turning to the red and white haired man who had moved off-screen. "Hey Shirou, Director Animusphere wants to talk to you."

"Alright, I'll be up there in a second." The acknowledgement came floating back from wherever he was. Olga scowled. _In a second!_ _Her and her team's time was valuable! He should have waited nearby so that she could more quickly get his information from him._

A few seconds passed as she tapped her foot irritably. Ever since she had woken up after that explosion, something had felt _wrong_ and she didn't know what, but it was bugging her. She knew the value of patience from dealing with the UN and the Lords of the Clock Tower but she shouldn't have to need it here in her own domain.

The technician replaced Romani Archaman in the screen.

"Finally!" She exclaimed. "Now before we cut the transmission, I need to know of the locations of the local magi, their workshops if you know of any, any Leyline Terminals, anything that might cause things like this like a laboratory, or a place that is dangerous and why. Such as a mountain that might still have landmines on it or quicksand." She recalled a hike that her father had taken her on once. They were going to a Leyline Terminal in their land's territory and it happened to pass by an abandoned military base with signs warning people not to get off the paths due to old landmines haven't being dug up after the war. It was quite useful for hiding the workshop there from prying eyes.

"Hmm," the man replied, scratching the back of his head. "Well, there is a JSDF base quite a distance away, but it isn't in Fuyuki itself. The four locations I mentioned earlier, the Church, the Fuyuki Central Park, Ryuudou Temple, and where you are happen to be at, are the major Leyline Terminals. I think my old home might be on a small Leyline Terminal. The Matou home is just down the hill from where you are at but that is easily the most dangerous place in the entire city."

The man shivered and added "Don't go there if you can help it. Especially as both you and Mash are females. You do not cross Zouken Matou without being ready to die."

Olga Marie swallowed. She had heard of the withered, five-century-old mage. He was ancient, powerful, and dangerous, even by magus standards. Not quite at the level of a Dead Apostle but more than a few of the people who had taken apart the Fuyuki Holy Grail had stated over their beverages that they would rather fight a Dead Apostle than face Zouken Matou again. His magecraft was a thing better suited for horror stories than study.

"As for any other magus - oh!" Shirou snapped his fingers. "The Fuyuki Church probably would have something related to the disaster. Kirei Kotomine was trained as a magus by Tohsaka's father and he wanted to cause as much misery and suffering as he could. If this is after a Holy Grail War, then it should be safe. He had two Servants there, but Gilgamesh and Lancer should be dead by now. And if not, then be respectful. Very respectful. Like you are talking to the Queen of the Clock Tower. Anything less will offend him, and he will kill you."

"It also isn't that far from Central Park so you might want to head there first. Um, hmm. I would tell you that you can recognize Central Park by it being the park that is abandoned and dying but-" The crackling fires and rubble still visible through the translucence of the summoning chamber all around her told her why that wasn't useful as directions. "Uh, just be careful of the place that feels badly cursed. That's Central Park."

Olga raised an eyebrow. What had the Tohsaka been doing if a heavily cursed area was used as a public park of all things. That was neglectful of their position as Second Owners. "Noted," she said dryly. "Now how would we get there?"

Shirou hesitated. "Well, first off, there is one more area, the forest south of Homurahara Academy and Ryuudou Temple has a Leyline. That's where the Eiznbern castle is. It probably is empty though. The Eiznbern only use it during a Holy Grail War."

"As for the Shinto areas such as the –" Romani appeared in the image feed, leaning over a corner of the screen before a map suddenly popped in the viewscreen while the video image of Shirou and Dr. Roman shrunk. "Oh, thank you Dr. Roman. The park is in the dense part of Shinto on the other side of the river." A blue beacon popped up on the map on the other side of the river. "For that, you just need to find the bridge and continue straight. That will put you in eyesight of the park. For the church, you just head south and up the mountain on the Shinto side of town. It should be obvious from there. Another part on the Shinto side is the harbor. If this has a plague component or something came into Fuyuki, it probably came in through the harbor."

Olga studied the map. As Shirou continued to name locations, other beacons popped up in various places. The bridge was easy to find _-was it the only way to cross the river? -_ and she could see the mountain the church was on and harbor without difficulty. She also made note of the major roadways across the town.

"On your side of the river, you are in the East side. The Matou home is down the hill and to your East." The blue dot indicated where they were, incidentally also telling her that she was North of the river. Her eyes caught a road south of her that lead towards the river without going near the Matou residence. "My home is on the opposite side, far to the North and East of where you are. I can't really give you better directions than that so if you get closer, call and I'll lead you to the home where a minor Leyline is tapped. If you want to head to the temple from where you are, just take the road on your West. At the large intersection, turn left and to the North will be the Temple stairs. Homurahara Academy is nearby if you need to get snacks. Taiga-nee-chan keeps a drawer of food for her hunger pains there so it would be a good spot to stop and refresh."

A growl broke out from behind her and she shot an annoyed glare at Fujimaru only for Mash to redden in embarrassment. Couldn't they see that she was doing something important? Find some food if you are hungry!

"I can't really give you directions to the Eiznbern Castle, it is guarded by a Bounded field that protects them from being found. It is just somewhere in the forest West of you and I think North." The man added apologetically before he yawned.

"Alright. The Eiznbern are notorious for their withdrawn nature so their workshop should be difficult to find." She stated one of the facts she knew about the family that had the last vestiges of the 3rd Magic. "If there is nothing more, then I am cutting communication. Now go do your job."

She cut the connection and turned to Mash and Ritsuka. Like good soldiers, they had surged to their feet as she finished the call with Chaldea. She evaluated them for a second. As always, Mash didn't seem to have any malice towards her, but it had to be hidden somewhere in her. But she was now a Demi-Servant and as such was her only decent weapon available to her besides her own Magic Crest. As a commoner, Ritsuka was fundamentally unsuitable but he showed a good sense of obedience. She might keep him around after the Clock Tower sent replacements for the Masters. If only to threaten the applicants with being replaced by a commoner. Hmm, that's an idea… she could use the pride of the Masters to cause them submit to her orders instead of that pride causing those idiots to disobey her. All for the price of a little threat.

Before she could speak and give them their marching orders, Mash spoke, "Director, are you sure about this? There's also the option of waiting here for rescue."

 _Impossible_ was her first thought. Olga shook her head. "I can't afford to do that. After we return to Chaldea, who knows how long it will take to select the next team?"

Thinking some more about it and doing some quick estimations in her head, she concluded. "A month won't be enough time to gather personnel or funds. Do you know how much the Association will harass me in the meantime? Worst case, they'll blame me for mismanagement, and I'll lose Chaldea to them."

She clenched her teeth at the thought. Failure. She would be an even worse embarrassment to her family if she lost Chaldea too. They would probably strip her of the position of the Lord of the Animusphere family. "If that came to pass, I'd be toast. I can't go back empty-handed. I need something that will shut them up!"

She saw Mash recoil at her passionate words and felt pity again, as well as the usual twinge of fear that came when she thought about Mash. Poor Mash. She suffered so much and had so little to look forward to. Surely she would take revenge now that the fusion was complete. But with a Master, any threat will probably be contained. Unless the commoner got in on it too.

No, they are her only resources right now. She can't afford to show fear. It will only make leap at the first sign of her weakness.

But maybe pity and kindness would work. Offer the donkey the carrot when you no longer have the stick.

Olga softened her words as she continued her explanation. "Sorry, but you're both stuck with me, Mash, Ritsuka. Come on, let's explore this town. We have an idea of where to start so let's find the cause of this twisted history."

As she stepped through the Rayshift connection to the Summoning Chamber, the chamber dispersed into mana and spiritrons. Putting her hand on her hip, she pointed south across the rubble and destroyed land towards the road leading to the river. "Now let's go! We will first find that cursed park before checking out the church and if those don't turn anything up, then let's check the port."

* * *

Elsewhere in the town, a pair of eyes narrowed.

"Shirou Emiya."

* * *

 **Thanks to Eiskralle1and shadyxlr for betaing this chapter.**

* * *

 **The following is in homage to the ongoing North America Fate Grand Order's Fate Zero event that is going on. It has a spoiler if you haven't completed the storyline yet. If you don't want a spoiler, then skip this and jump down to the second Omake.**

Omake: A Vision of Something that Could have Been.

"This is the Tohsaka's house?" the three on the other side of the screen looked around, trying to see any trace of the house while standing in the transparent projection of the summoning experiment chamber. Shirou looked at the background and frowned. There didn't appear to be anything still standing, not even a wall or a floor that might indicate that this used to be Rin's home. Director Animusphere turned back to him with a raised eyebrow, indicating her disbelief. "Clearly not."

What was going on? This was Fuyuki but why were they at the Tohsaka manor but the manor is not even rubble?

Shirou abruptly remembered some of the theory he had had to learn in order to work here. Singularities were "stains" on human history. They were more similar to what-ifs than anything else. What if Tohsaka's manor had been destroyed and Rin killed before he was stabbed by Lancer? What if Japan had won World War II? What if Kiritsugu hadn't decided to fight for the Eiznbern?

For a brief moment, he saw a man with a red hood and a dagger hanging at his side pointing a sniper rifle at an adult female homunculus only for the incoming shot to be blocked by Saber and her invisible sword.

Shirou shook his head. Root, he must have been more tired than he thought if he was seeing hallucinations of Dad attempting to kill an Eiznbern woman. Dad had married one after all. No way that Dad would try to kill one without a good reason.

 **I do plan on doing stories for some of the events once I get past some plot points in this storyline. Now, onto the next side story!**

* * *

Omake: A Real Terror for Tohsaka, Chaldea, and Flamos

"This is the Tohsaka's house?" the three on the other side of the screen looked around, trying to see any trace of the house while standing in the transparent projection of the summoning experiment chamber. Shirou looked at the background and frowned. There didn't appear to be anything still standing, not even a wall or a floor that might indicate that this used to be Rin's home. Director Animusphere turned back to him with a raised eyebrow, indicating her disbelief. "Clearly not."

What was going on? This was Fuyuki but why were they at the Tohsaka manor but the manor is not even rubble?

Shirou abruptly remembered some of the theory he had had to learn in order to work here. Singularities were "stains" on human history. They were more similar to what-ifs than anything else. What if Tohsaka's manor had been destroyed and Rin killed before he was stabbed by Lancer? What if Dad destroyed the Grail before it could have started the Fourth Grail War?

A blur of colors seemed to shimmer in his vision. He saw Dad, him, Illya, an adult version of Illya, and Illya's two maids living in a small house. But then the view changed and he saw Rin fighting with her rival Luvia in the night sky overhead, both of them wielding a pair of wands and- Was Rin wearing cat ears!? Why did Luvia have a tail!?

Shirou couldn't believe it. Well, the part of Rin and Luvia fighting again was completely believable- but there was no way that Rin would willingly dress up like a cat girl! He couldn't imagine Rin ever humiliating herself like that, especially anywhere near Luvia, much less Luvia playing along by dressing like a cross between a fairy and a kitsune!

Shirou shook his head, trying to dispel the kaleidoscope of colors, only to notice something happening near Fujimaru, Mash, and Animusphere. A patch of ground that was shaking and rumbling. The last time he had seen something like that was when a familiar had burst out from the ground and attacked him.

"Look out!" he cried even as Mash whirled around to meet the new threat that was bursting from the ground. He wished he could something to the -

Shirou blinked. Was that a wand? Why was there a moving object popping out from the ground?

"Hello! Pardon me, but it took some time to get out of the enchanted chest buried in the concrete buried under the workshop that was caved in under the rubble. Even a magnificent wand such as myself would take some time to get out." The red stick said as it waved and stretched in the air. "Why, one might think that Rin didn't want to even remember me."

Shirou starred. Mash blinked. Fujimaru tilted his head. Animusphere blinked and then buried her face in her palm.

"Uhmmm! Freedom tastes so good!" The red Mystic code cried out and then spun around to face the group from Chaldea.

Shirou wondered what was going on. Did Rin have a secret sentient Mystic Code that she didn't use during the Holy Grail War? Or was this another of the Singularity's differences from history? Or had she just left it left it home to guard the estate while she lived at his house?

"Nice to meet you! I am the magic stick of love and justice, Magical Ruby-Chan! One of you has been chosen as the next magical girl! Now, please take me into your hands! Devote yourself (and use me) against evil!" the mysterious object implored.

Shirou suddenly felt like a dangerous and suspicious offer had just been made. An offer that could change history, initiate innocent girls into Holy Grail Wars, dress young girls in indecent outfits, and traumatize his little sister.

It was quite obvious what he needed to do. He needed to kill it. At the first available opportunity.


	7. Checklist 7: Overacheiving is Acceptable

**For those who don't know much about Fate Stay Night or Fate Grand Order or who just chose to skip over the cutscenes in Fate Grand Order, this is my exposition chapter. Most of what you need to know will be explained here.**

 **Checklist Item 7: Overachieving is Acceptable**

Shirou watched warily as the single most feared being in the Clocktower waved a French fry at him. It would have been simpler if the French fry wasn't flying freely on its own, without any magecraft animating it, that he could smell, or anyone touching it. As it was, it hurt his head enough to consider that the French fry was somehow flying on its own.

Zelretch snorted. "The times are so far apart that even I would despair, and I am a worker of Miracles and Magic."

"What do you want Zelretch?" Shirou asked with a long-suffering tone. If only he wasn't Rin's teacher. And a Magician who was regarded as one of the strongest Dead Apostles by killing Type Moon. All of which meant that Shirou would have to be an idiot to get upset at him. It helped to remind himself of that at times.

Didn't stop Rin from tackling him sometimes. What did she think he was, a suicidal idiot? There wasn't even anyone to save.

"However, one of myselves got a message from a fairy. And a lollipop. It was a pretty good lollipop."

Zelretch looked Shirou straight in the eyes, and said, "If you want to meet again as normal people, two miracles must occur. One must wait continuously, one must pursue endlessly. They must realize that it is impossible to succeed yet at the same time be capable of enduring patiently. Is that … the story of a dream that shouldn't be waited upon?"

Shirou stood there, mind racing, just like when he had first heard the prophecy. Hope blossomed in his heart again. Saber. He can meet Saber again.

Zelretch snorted as he added "Of course they would think that. Nuttier than a bee and the little fae knows that too."

Zelretch caught the French fry from out of mid-air - did that French fry try to dodge? Shirou really did not want to think about it - and ate it.

"Needs more iron." The vampire smiled.

Shirou shuddered and turned around to see a beautiful sunrise, much prettier than the Second Magician's smile. A sunrise where he had said farewell to his love. Where she now stood in front of him, smiling her sad smile just like in his memory.

"Shirou." Her voice spoke.

He knew what was coming next; he had already lived it. But she was so beautiful with her golden hair floating in the breeze.

"I love you."

Shirou's eyes watered and as he blinked, she vanished again.

"I love you too," he muttered to himself.

"Saber."

* * *

 _Chaldea, Antarctica_

Shirou awoke.

He blinked. The ring of his alarm continued to play.

He hit his alarm on his communicator, causing it to silence itself. Getting up and stretching, he listened to the pops of his back. He didn't have the time to return to his room and bed, so he had just staggered to a break room and collapsed on a chair.

As he cracked his neck and did some stretches, he looked around the room. Tia Alcocer, one of the three cooks was also sleeping in a chair not too far away. Apparently, he wasn't the only one so tired that he didn't make it to his room.

Shirou checked the time. He had slept for four hours. Just the time he had set his alarm to go off before falling asleep.

The workload was heavy, and the employees were few. So Shirou had taken it upon himself to take less sleep now in order to get the power plants for the Evocation-Invocation Engine working.

He didn't know what would happen to the three people in the Singularity if it collapsed on them before they could manage to reverse the Rayshift, but he figured that it would be bad. Probably bad for humanity too.

But while the emergency generators are capable of handling the ongoing demand for the Evocation-Invocation Engine that was the heart of the Rayshift technology, it also left the rest of Chaldea on a slightly above bare minimum energy budget. As Roman had explained in last night's emailed message to all the employees, that meant that they didn't have Laplace observing the director, the last Master and Mash. Therefore, if Gaia caught onto the abnormality of their existence, it would try to erase them. But until then, the trapped people were still alive.

Funnily enough, motivation in Chaldea had risen higher after that.

You could kill the entire command staff and morale would plummet but fail to kill even one of them and morale will soar to greater heights than if all of them had survived.

Humanity didn't make any sense, Shirou concluded while trying to ignore the fact that he was a human.

He was rather successful. One of the perks of developing a Reality Marble.

But does ignoring the fact that he is human while contemplating humanity not making sense, makes sense?

His head hurt. Resolving to shove it aside until he can bring it up with Rin so he can give a logic puzzle in order to keep her from nagging him too deeply. Or he could give to Taiga so that she could burn herself out following the logic puzzle. Either option could buy him some time if they got upset with him.

Shirou yawned. He was so tired. And sleepy. Maybe he had been pushing himself too hard. But he needed to get to work. There were people to be saved.

As Shirou yawned again, he decided to go down to the cafeteria. He would need a good breakfast to help get him thinking straight during his investigation into who was trying to take down Chaldea.

On the bright side, he only had 22 candidates for the murders. There were the 19 other survivors in Chaldea and the three people inside the Singularity.

Of course, if the saboteur had died along with everyone else, then he would never find the murderer. But everyone would be safe from further attacks. And if the saboteur had faked his death, then Dr. Roman would find out as he was both a magus and a doctor, not to mention that he had access to the entire collection of Chaldea's records.

But if Roman was the saboteur or worse, working with the murderer, then Shirou would have his work cut out for him.

Regardless of what he would find, Shirou was determined to save the remainder of Chaldea. He would either save everyone or they would all be safe from further harm.

His stomach growled quietly. At least the first step, after having breakfast, was clear.

He needed to find the fragments of one of the saboteur's bomb.

* * *

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

After Mash finished off the last skeleton on the bridge by smashing her shield into it and knocking it off the bridge, she looked around the area. She reported in a slightly mechanical voice, "The hostile life form has been removed. Let's move on."

Olga Marie Animusphere smiled smugly from where she stood in the far back as she admired Mash's work. "I didn't know what would happen with that monster, but I expected nothing less of a Servant's body. Such power."

"Not that it makes them look any less scary," Mash grumbled before clearing her throat. "By the way Director, I have a question for you. The Fuyuki in our data and this Fuyuki are just way too different. What happened in this city, exactly? What are your thoughts, Director?"

Ritsuka had been wondering about that too. He was from Japan and as far as he remembered, no cities caught on fire like this. It would have been all over the news.

Olga Animusphere sighed briefly before replying "Mash, Ritsuka. I'm only going to say this once, so listen up. In a singularity, history is disrupted. We in Chaldea, observes the future through an Earth model called CHALDEAS." She held up one hand. "At the same time, a familiar called LAPLACE compiles past records." She held up her other hand. "You can say it is LAPLACE's job to gather data on history that wasn't made public, and information that was buried in darkness that no one knows. According to LAPLACE's observations, an unusual Holy Grail War was confirmed in this city in 2004."

"Like what Mr. Emiya said, right?" Mash asked.

Ritsuka then decided to ask his question since they had talked with Mr. Emiya. "By the way, what is a Holy Grail War? Is it over the Christian Holy Grail?"

Ms. Animusphere grinded her teeth before replying. "The Holy Grail is a magical chalice that is the root of all magecraft. It is capable of granting its holder's wish. Mages in Fuyuki completed one long ago and in order to activate it, summoned seven Heroic Spirits. That was the beginning of the Grail War and unknown to anyone, they were summoned to this town. The Fuyuki Holy Grail War system is simple. Seven masters fight each other and the last one standing gets the grail."

They walked through a city intersection. It seemed so weird to be in a city and yet nobody is around. Ms. Animusphere ignored the flames and ruined architecture, and continued her explanation, "Chaldea has known about this since 1934. My father… I mean, the previous director used this data to build the summoning system. That's what makes up Chaldea's Heroic Spirit summoning System, FATE. Our third invention after LAPLACE and CHALDEAS."

Mash frowned. "Wasn't SHEBA the third invention?"

Olga Animusphere smiled, a rather pretty and wistful smile when Ritsuka thought about it. From his few opportunities to interact with her, she seemed to be a tsundere. "SHEBA was actually created by Professor Lev. Well, I guess you could say that we both worked on it."

Ms. Animusphere suddenly wiped the smile off her face before continuing. "Seven Servants fought here, and in the end, Saber was victorious. The town wasn't destroyed, and the Servants shouldn't have been noticed by anyone, but… Now this is happening," She waved her hand around at the destruction. "We should assume that the outcome changed due to this Singularity. The anomaly in 2004 brought about an alteration to human history and as a result, we're no longer able to see 100 years into the future. That's why it's our job to repair this anomaly. Somewhere here is the reason history has been disturbed. Once we analyze and eliminate it, that will complete our mission. All of us will be able to return to the present."

"I see. Got it." Ritsuka said and nodded. He understood now. As Mash had earlier told him before they met up with the director, Servants were legendary people summoned from beyond death. They needed a Master ( _which was me! Why me of all people?_ ) in order to live again as they needed a person's magical energy to keep on existing as though they were alive. Mages summoned Heroic Spirits, a synonym for Servants, in order to compete with each other to get a magical, wish-granting Holy Grail, which seemed to be like a genie like in the bedtime stories his mother used to tell him.

But something went wrong. Somehow, the Holy Grail had turned into a monkey's paw, like that one English story that he had read in high school. The monkey's paw granted your wish but every time it granted a wish, it granted it in the worst possible manner. If you wished for money, you got in the form of life insurance on your loved ones. If you wished for your loved one to return to life, then it granted it in the form of a zombie. At least, that is how he thinks it went… It had been a few years, okay?

So, in 2004, a group of mages came together to fight over the Holy Grail in what was called a Holy Grail War and it resulted in the Grail being destroyed instead of being used as a monkey's paw. Mr. Emiya and Mr. Saber had won the war but that was in normal history. This was a Singularity where history itself was changed, and in this case, it was the fact that the Holy Grail had not been destroyed. And in order for them to get back to the present, or was that future now, they had to find and eliminate the thing that caused history to change.

"So why aren't we headed towards the Holy Grail?" Ritsuka asked.

Ms. Animusphere scowled. "Because the Holy Grail being used is a symptom, not the cause. Something, some object or person, caused the winning team, Saber and Shirou, to lose the Grail War. If we can find that and eliminate it, then the Singularity will be fixed."

"Oh. Okay." Ritsuka said.

Mash sighed a little in relief as the group approached the next intersection. "Anyways, although we don't know what happened to the Grail War, it's good that the mission is so simple."

Monster cries came from down one of the side streets. Ms. Animusphere and Ritsuka jumped in surprise. Fou jumped down from Mash's shoulder while good, reliable Mash wheeled to face the group of skeletons approaching with her shield ready to catch the first wave of arrows.

Olga Animusphere shrieked, "Not these guys again! Get rid of them!"

Mash replied readily, "Understood!" Then the girl charged the pack of skeletons, shield in front and deflecting every arrow aimed at her.

The skeletons stood no chance. They only managed to get a third volley off before Mash ran the full several hundred meters to them, appearing to Ritsuka like a pink and black blur of speed.

Once the younger girl reached them, she hit them like a bowling ball. The first skeleton she rammed flew backwards into another skeleton, dispersing both of them.

But Mash didn't stop there like she had the first time she had fought. She took a step to the side, wheeling her shield around and knocking a skeleton's rib cage off.

As she continued her swing all the way through a full circle, killing a few more skeletons, Ritsuka saw that a skeleton on the opposite side of Mash had nocked and aimed an arrow right at her!

"Mash! Duck!" He called out to warn her.

Mash completed her swing and saw the skeleton jump back. Her eyes widened as she yelped and dropped to the ground in a roll with her shield held off the ground.

It worked. A pair of arrows flew over her head, both clattering to the ground after impacting a wall.

Suddenly a hand grabbed his collar and yanked him to the side.

"You get behind here!" Ms. Animusphere snarled from behind the cover that the building offered.

An arrow flew past him, scaring Ritsuka. He hadn't even noticed that a skeleton was aiming at him!

"Incompetent commoners! This is why I wanted Masters who had combat experience!" The director continued her snarl before devolving more into her complaints. " _I_ wanted top-grade Masters! I wanted mages who would face creatures that could threaten all of humanity. I wanted Masters who could maintain a Servant and come out alive. So why do I get this stupid commoner with the common sense of a lemming! Why couldn't…"

Ritsuka stopped listening. It sounded like she was just venting to herself. Besides, she had saved his life. Judging by her words and actions, she was a European tsundere. Maybe she was an evil person as Mash and Roman had said but just as Roman had said she was a sweet person underneath.

He peeked out from behind the wall. In the few seconds he was distracted from Mash's fight, Mash had destroyed most of the skeletons. As he watched, the Servant swung the shield from the right side of her body across her, using the edges sticking out from it to smash into the skeleton and crumpling it to the ground. She side stepped a different skeleton trying to use its bow as a club against her and swung her shield back to her right side. The skeleton crumbled to the ground, destroyed.

Mash now faced the last skeletal archer. Sensing it's impending defeat, the skeleton backed up while drawing another arrow from its quiver. Mash didn't give it a chance to fire as she darted forward and slammed the bottom edge of her shield across its legs, destroying the legs and the skeleton.

Ritsuka sighed in relief. He was not used to this! He had never fought in his life, well with the exception of the karate dojo that his twin sister had dragged him to when they were both kids, but that was sparring! Not battle like this!

The director walked past him, judging there to be no threat now that Mash had killed all those skeletons. Ritsuka followed behind her.

Mash turned and walked back to join them, shield held firmly at her side.

"Phew," Mash sighed. "The battle is over Master. I'm relieved that we pulled through again."

"Yeah, me too," Ritsuka admitted. "Thank you Mash." He turned to the director. "And you too, Ms. Animusphere."

Their reactions were polar opposites. Olga Marie Animusphere hmphed and crossed her arms while Mash blushed a little and said softly, "Yes. I am happy to be useful."

"Well, let's not waste time." The director turned around and walked back to the street they were walking down. "This way."

Mash and Ritsuka grinned at each other before running to catch up. The director might not have been appreciative but they knew that they had saved each other. Besides, maybe she didn't know how to handle thanks like that.

After getting back on the ruined road that they had started on, Olga Animusphere frowned suddenly and turned to Mash. "Hey, Mash. Is it possible that you can't use your Noble Phantasm?"

Noble what now?

Mash shrunk down into herself and hung her head. She took a few more steps before replying. "Apparently."

A moment of silence stretched out before Mash continued. "I don't even know which Heroic Spirit fused with me –and I am unable to use the power of its Special Arts."

Mash glanced up to Ritsuka who still sported his look of confusion on his face and explained. "A Heroic Spirit's secret weapon is called a Noble Phantasm, Ritsuka senpai. I'm sorry for explaining this so late. Servants are equipped with a unique skill called a Noble Phantasm. It's derived from each hero's legend and great deeds and is a secret weapon."

Ritsuka was impressed. So, a hero's legend gave them secret weapons then. Would that mean that a hero like Sasaki Kojirou would have a powerful sword then?

Mash continued explaining, with a look of shame on her face. "However, I am unable to wield my Noble Phantasm. I can somehow use it as a weapon, but its output is decreased. I can't even release its True Name."

She shrunk further in on herself. "In fact, I don't even know what the origins of this weapon of mine might be."

She hung her head again, "In any case, you can think of me as a failed Servant."

Ritsuka really didn't know what to say. He barely had any idea of what was going on.

But Mash made all that redundant as she suddenly perked up, a look of determination on her face and stared him right in the eyes. "Or maybe just a capable kouhai that can get even stronger. I don't have any leads on the Heroic Spirit that fused with me, but with you as my Master, I will figure it out as I grow."

Olga Animusphere suddenly spoke up. "That's true. Masters have the ability to analyze their Servant's parameters, skills and matrixes."

 _Really?_ Ritsuka thought. _How do I do that?_

Director Animusphere spoke again before he could ask. "Ritsuka, as a Master once you become good enough, you should be able to analyze Mash's Servant data. Any Servants you make a contract with from this point should be the same. First, you need to learn their True Name and Noble Phantasm. As your trust with them and your ability to use your prana grows, your Servants power will grow too."

She clucked her tongue. "Well, it's not like you have that much potential in you. The fact that you can't use Mash that well shows that." Ritsuka winced at the snub.

"Once we get Chaldea's Rayshift capability back online, we're going to shift a first-class Master here." Olga Marie Animusphere nodded her head in time with her own words.

"Then you're fired."

Ritsuka froze. _What!?_

She explained without noticing that he had stopped. "Newbies with no combat experience can spend their time terrified in some corner in Chaldea." She noticed that both Ritsuka and Mash had stopped and turned around. "What?

Ritsuka analyzed her words. _Remember that she is tsundere. She won't say what she actually feels. She just saved my life and now she is saying that I will be sent back and hide in Chaldea—OH! She isn't going to send me back home, she just intends to get away from being in this Singularity! Back to the safety of Chaldea!_

Recalling the swarms of skeletons everywhere, he felt relieved. He didn't want to get killed by skeletons in a burning town. _Besides, Chaldea has that simulated battle thing at the entrance. Didn't it mention something about recording my score? It should be able to be ranked and thereby give training, right?_

Feeling relieved that he wasn't being fired but instead being relocated for training, Ritsuka smiled in gratitude. In his good mood, he decided to tease the director, "Could it be that you're worried about me?"

She blushed prettily and wheeled around. "O-Of course! You're our only fighting force here! If you get taken out, who's going to fight?"

Mash smiled and relaxed now that the two didn't have their feelings hurt. "Anyway, I'm glad you two understand each other better now. Let's move before any more skeletons show up."

* * *

Olga paused and used her comm to double check the map. Yup, this was the location of the park that that one technician-what was his name again? - had pointed out.

Or at least it was where the park was supposed to be.

* * *

 **Here we are. A cliffhanger. Hope you enjoyed it!**

 **Next month we'll progress more on what is going on. Just remember that this is a Singularity. Nothing says that a Singularity has to match up with only the appertaining time line's history.**

 **Thanks to Eiskralle1and shadyxlr for betaing this chapter.**

* * *

Omake: May the Fourth not be with Taiga

"Something, some object or person, caused the winning team, Saber and Shirou, to lose the Grail War. If we can find that and eliminate it, then the Singularity will be fixed."

At that moment, a certain tiger like person walked out into the cross-roads up in front of them, with a glowing blue sword on her back, and a mountain of snacks clutched in her arms.

The person saw, them, swallowed the snack that she was eating, and hollered "Hello!"

She ran up to them, still holding all of her snacks, which was really impressive considering how large the collective whole was. "Finally, I thought I would never see another person again!"

Mash jumped in front of the group, setting her shield to defend against the newcomer. The stranger ignored it. Probably because she couldn't see past all the food in her arms.

Olga opened a line of conversation. "Hello, where did you got that blue sword from? It is so—shiny."

For all of her skills, Olga Marie was not good at flattery.

"Oh this?" One arm shifted to support the mountain of food by itself while the other grabbed the sword on her back and waved it around. Mash's eyes widened and she moved her shield to always be between her and the light-radiating sword. "I got it from some blond, baseball hat wearing teenager in a park where a meteor had just fallen and who was hungry and wanted to trade for Tora-Shinai and some food. Being the generous person that I am, I agreed and gave her my sword. Cool huh? It looks like a lightsaber."

Mash replied faintly. "Yes, yes it does."

The brown-haired woman continued. "But when I went over to Shirou's house to replenish my food, I found another blond woman trying to live in sin with my cook- I mean ward! In order to protect my food, I chased her out with this awesome sword!"

Her head tilted, popping out from the side of the food pile. "Funnily enough, I don't really remember the duel all that much. I just brought out this sword and then everything went red and blue. When I woke up, the town was on fire and neither Shirou nor that Saber woman were anywhere around. The Dojo had been repainted red though and all the lights were burnt out."

She frowned as she tapped the hilt of the sword on her cheek. "Come to think of it, you are the first people I've seen today since I had dinner."

Olga Marie Animusphere nodded, looking a bit bemused, and asked while she waved her hand in front of the weird woman. "You will lend me your sword."

"I will lend you my sword," the woman agreed. She handed the sword over, hilt first. "It is a very pretty sword isn't it? I didn't know they made swords like this." Her hand plucked a snack from her pile, opened it, and plopped it into her mouth.

Olga nodded again. "Now that we have this Noble Phantasm, Mash defeat this source of the Singularity! Then we'll head to the park and defeat the original source and bring balance to the Force."


	8. Checklist 8: Diagnose the Problem

**Sorry for taking so long to put this up. This is June's chapter but it was difficult, for both me and my beta-readers. Life just got in the way for us. In the interest of not giving away spoilers, I'll just refer you to the Author's note at the bottom of the page.**

 **Checklist Item 8: Diagnose the Problem**

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

Ritsuka stared at the building in front of him, Mash and the director.

This was not a park. In fact, according to the proud sign over the rubble that came from some of the destroyed pillars of the entryway, this was the Fuyuki Civic Center. Or at least it had been before Fuyuki went to ruin.

"This is enough!" Olga Marie Animusphere threw up her arms. "This is definitely not a park! It doesn't have any noticeable signs of destruction and it most certainly does not have any remarkable curses on the property! Why did we even ask the technician for directions if they aren't accurate!"

Olga stood for a second panting from the sudden ventilation of her frustration. Then she took a deep breath, pasted a calm expression over her face, and started pacing, occasionally waving her arms around at the various features of the current Fuyuki City. "Well, if the help is incompetent, then I will just do it myself. Let's see. Everything's burnt down far as the eye can see… There aren't any traces of residents either. What happened here?"

Olga grimaces as if at a bad memory. "What could even turn Chaldea gray in the first place? If we can't see the future, that means humanity will vanish…"

Olga started pacing, talking to herself all the while.

"Looks like she is talking to herself again," Roman suddenly chimed in, his image projecting from Ritsuka's communicator. "This could take a while. Hey Ritsuka, this area looks like it is safe. Why don't you and Mash take this opportunity to rest a bit?"

The screen flicked off almost immediately, probably due to power issues. Maybe if they could find another leyline terminal and tap into it, then they could talk longer. But Ritsuka didn't have a clue as to where he could find another. It wasn't like they could be found right next door or something so convenient.

"I agree with the doctor, Senpai." Mash spoke up, walking over to a concrete ledge where she dropped to a sitting position. Mash winced as her shield crashed into the concrete, creating a loud clang that she squeaked out an apology for when Olga shot a dirty look at her.

The director glared at her for a few more moments before turning around and continuing her musing. "Could that mean the Counter Force doesn't work in a Singularity? Then this place is like a Bolt… The fatal choice of destruction scattered throughout human history… When your choices become mistakes, this is what happens."

Mash looked ashamed at the disturbance, even as the director started reflecting on what was going on or what could have caused this, Ritsuka inferred from what portions he could understand of the director's words. He didn't understand what the director was saying. What was a Counter Force? And Ritsuka didn't think that Olga's bolt was the same as the weaver's bolt that he was familiar with.

As for Mash, Ritsuka felt a tug of pity for the poor girl. She didn't need to contemplate how she had just upset her boss, especially with how less than a day ago, she had been dying under a massive block. Casting his mind about to create a conversation topic to distract her, he decided to ask something that he had been worrying about.

"Are you tired?" he asked. Mash had been fighting for hours at this point. He knew from his karate lessons as a kid that people can't spar constantly for long periods of time. But Mash had been fighting and when she hadn't been fighting, she had been on guard for the next attack. It must be exhausting.

"Tired?" Mash tilted her head in confusion and curiosity at the question. "Are you asking if I have been having any problems since I became a Servant?"

Ritsuka nodded. Mash's cheeks turned a light red at the concern.

"I'm fine, well for the most part," She dropped her head and voice as if ashamed and admitting some embarrassing secret. "It's scary to fight."

Ritsuka nodded. It was scary to watch her fight. The hordes and packs of skeletons were intimidating and Mash was the only thing between the skeletons and him joining the skeleton horde. And she looked more like a fragile girl than a warrior.

But he was now her Master. He wished he knew what that meant. All he could figure out was that he was something like a mix of a cheerleader, magic provider, and an analyst for her.

But if he was her cheerleader, then he supposed that he ought to cheer her up.

"Hey," he said, causing Mash to peek up from beneath her hair that had fallen forward and covered her eyes. "Don't worry about it. It might be terrifying for both me and you but you are doing an amazing job as a Servant. Honestly, I should be the one worried. I have been the one doing a poor job of being your Master."

He paused. Maybe he could distract her on something other than her perceived shortcomings, maybe that would cheer her up.

"No, that's not true!" Mash protested. She clasped her hands together above her lap, twisting around to face him. "You are doing a great job. I think you might've been the best Master this summer."

Ritsuka winced, before forcing a smile. "Thanks Mash,"

He kept his thoughts to himself. _But that isn't exactly a stellar recommendation. I mean, surely there have been other Masters before, right?_

Realizing that this could help keep the conversation going and help get Mash more comfortable and relaxed, he asked, "So what about the Masters in the past? What kind of things did they do?"

Mash hesitated, "Well, Chaldea does keep some Master Candidates on hand in case of an emergency but for the most part, they have never all been deployed before."

She laid one hand on her shield. "You have to realize that most of humanity isn't actually in such danger. Most threats that can actually threaten all of humanity are usually taken care of subtly."

Mash realized something and frantically waved her two hands around, "Oh sure, a city can die out or a nation or continent can suffer grievous casualties, but most threats that actually can destroy even one percent of humanity are destroyed by the Counter Force before it even gets going. We're just here to allow the Counter Force some more options in dealing with the threat without destroying everything."

Ritsuka stared in bemusement at the stammering girl who called him Senpai despite knowing far more than he did.

"Uhh, what's this Counter Force thing?" he asked about the one term he had no clue about what it means.

"Oh," Mash faintly said, a hint of embarrassment on her cheeks. She took a breath before she continued. "I forgot that you are a civilian, Master. The Counter Force is the safety device formed by the collective unconsciousness of mankind and the planet to avert the demise of mankind and to extend the life of the planet. One aspect of the Counter Force is used by Alaya, the collective subconscious of mankind, to prevent the extinction of humanity. The other aspect of the Counter Force which is to extend the life of the planet operates according to the will of the planet which is termed Gaia."

Mash hesitated "I think that the creation of Chaldea was indirectly done by the Counter Force. Chaldea has made astonishing progress over the last 80 years and it really isn't the nature of magi to act for the benefit of mankind. Magi are primarily interested in reaching the root of all knowledge, Akasha, so why would so many of them be interested in working for the preservation of mankind?"

She shrugged. "At any rate, the Counter Force is a force that always acts to remove threats from jeopardizing either of its two primary objectives. Usually by influencing people such as Jeanne D'Arc. Or sometimes it uses a Counter Guardian," she caught his confusion and added "one of its own special Heroic Spirits, to destroy the threat at all costs."

Mash winced and added in quieter voice "And the cost usually includes the slaughter and destruction of the surrounding people and area."

"Like this?" Ritsuka asked, referring to the fires and destruction that lay all over Fuyuki.

Mash looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding slowly. "Maybe like this, but this is a Singularity. This actually didn't happen in history which is why we are here. The Counter Force wouldn't operate in this as it actually shouldn't exist yet it does. It is an anomaly."

"Huh," Ritsuka contemplated that as he stared out at all the ruined buildings, the destroyed roads and pavement, the fires cackling as they consumed everything in sight. This could have been how Fuyuki was destroyed and yet it wasn't.

He knew one thing for sure. This wasn't part of what his college education for a job at various embassies had been preparing him to deal with before he got hounded to join Chaldea.

History being wrong yet it was as clear to see as the buildings around him. A city on fire and in ruins but not a single human soul save three visitors from the future. And an army of skeletons possessing the streets despite being dead.

And here he was, plain old Ritsuka Fujimaru, trying to find out why it happened and how to eliminate the source of the changes before any skeleton could get past Mash and kill him.

His head hurt, just like that one time that his math teacher had tried to teach the class the concept of infinity. No one had been able to understand it but the teacher had still rambled about it for a week.

"So the Counter Force are two objects that try to enforce survival of earth and mankind?" Ritsuka asked, trying to confirm if he understood what he had just learned.

"Not quite, but you're getting there, Master," Mash said encouragingly. "I'll get you some reference books when we return to Chaldea. We have quite a large database in addition to SHEBA. And you really need to know the relevant concepts like this, otherwise you'll be like a lost little kitty. Welp-not that I am any different. It's been about two years since I started here, and I still don't get it. I kind of sneaked in. Almost like an alligator."

Ritsuka snorted at the image of Mash as an alligator. The two were completely different. Mash was a cute, sweet girl who acted sometimes like she was in the JSDF and alligators were carnivorous predators with scales and too many teeth. The image just did not compute.

"It's true," Mash protested, blushing as he started to laugh. "I don't really know all that much. I'm still learning and-"

"No, sorry. I'm not laughing at that." He finished chuckling and took a breath. "I'm laughing at the idea of you being an alligator. You don't look anything like one."

Come to think of it, it wasn't that funny of an image. Maybe the stress had just been getting to him.

Mash cocked her head, quizzingly as a befuddled expression appeared on her face.

Ritsuka felt like he had to explain. "You don't have enough teeth and your jaw is much too short. Also, alligators are like an ambush predator. And I have difficulty in seeing you just sitting and waiting for some animal to wander by so you can clamp onto them."

"Fou!" Fou apparently agreed as he jumped onto Mash's face before sliding around to her shoulder. He pantomimed taking a bite out of Mash's ear. "Fou, fou."

"See, even Fou agrees that you wouldn't make a good alligator. You're more likely to be eaten by an alligator than be one." Ritsuka good humoredly pointed out.

Mash pouted as she protested. "I can be a good alligator!"

Ritsuka laughed at her pout. Mash protested again. "I could be an alligator. I like to take warm baths and when I do, I pull Fou in when he's standing on the rim of the tub."

"Fou, foou, fooou-FOU!" Fou agreed, walking along Mash's shoulder like he was innocently taking a walk on the rim of a tub before suddenly snapping forward at a surprisingly fast speed when he said the final 'fou'.

"That would be alligator-like behavior," Ritsuka chuckled at Fou's pantomime. Then a thought occurred to him. "Actually, Mash could you put straighten your arms and put them in front of you?"

Mash gave him a confused look but obeyed. Fou jumped from her shoulder to Ritsuka's before turning to watch the show.

"Now, lock your arms and rotate your hand, no, not that one, there. Now spread your fingers apart- don't bend your elbows."

Mash followed his instructions, still not understanding.

"Raise your right arm above the other- and there."

Mash looked blankly at the configuration of her arms. One arm was above another, hand pointed downwards, fingers spread like fangs. Her left hand had its fingers spread and pointed upwards. Both arms joints were stiffly locked in place.

"Um, Senpai? What is this for?" Mash ventured to ask the question on her mind.

"Have you ever played charades before?" Ritsuka asked.

Mash shook her head in denial.

"Well, charades is a game where the player pretend to be an animal or another object. The main rule is that they can't speak while others try to guess what they are acting out. Right now, you are doing a good impression of an alligator." Ritsuka explained.

Mash looked contemplatively at her arms impressions of the jaw of an alligator. Trying it out, Mash brought her arms together, lacing her spread fingers together.

Her eyes widened as she smiled. "If my fingers are the teeth, then I just took a bite!" she exclaimed with delight. She brought her arms apart and back together again a few more times.

"See, while you can do a good impression of an alligator, you just aren't a malicious person," Ritsuka acknowledged. "You are a good person, not a carnivore."

"Besides," he added. "Alligators are one of my least favorite animals and I like you."

Ritsuka realized what he just said and quickly added "As a person! You are a good person and a good friend."

Mash went quiet for a bit. Ritsuka wondered if he had offended or embarrassed her somehow.

"Thanks, Senpai," Mash looked up and smiled a big smile. "I am glad that you are my friend."

"Thanks," Ritsuka said, smiling. He felt relieved that he had only embarrassed her a little. "But you're no alligator. Your smile doesn't have nearly enough teeth and lacks malice or the desire to bite me."

"Well, I still think I am more akin to an alligator but what about you Senpai? What animal would you be most like?"

"What animal, hmm?" Ritsuka brought a fist beneath his chin as he pondered the question. "Well, I can't think of any but you did compare me to a cat, so I guess you could call me a cat. I can also pull off an impression too."

He brought one hand up like a paw even as Fou jumped down to the ledge between them. He gave off his best impression of a cat. "Meow?"

Mash cracked a smile. "Maybe you're not a cat, Senpai."

"Fou?" Fou sat down, looking up at the two cutely.

"What about Fou? What animal do you think he is like, Senpai?" Mash asked curiously.

"Hmm." Ritsuka eyed the cute fluffy squirrel. He had never seen a squirrel before but Fou seemed to be like one. But as he recalled the photos he had seen before, he wondered if Fou was more like a fluffy dog than his initial impression of a squirrel.

"Fou is Fou," Ritsuka decided. "But if he wanted to play charades like us, then he could do a good job of being either a dog or a squirrel."

"Fou!" Fou apparently liked the description as he started to prance around a little.

"Charades, huh," Mash mused as she digested the new information. "So what animal do you think the director would be?"

"The director huh?" Ritsuka looked at the director, still walking around and ranting/talking to herself over the current situation. "Hard to say. She seems to be a noble so maybe a noble but angry creature would fit her. Maybe a lion?"

Mash shook her head. "No, she almost fits but I don't think a lion would fit her. She is definitely a cat person though."

Ritsuka nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. She would hiss if you approach her but still demands your attention. She's proud but not quite willing to ignore people she dislikes like a cat would."

"What about-" Mash began before Olga noticed what they were doing and came over.

"And what are you two doing?" She asked icily, if angrily. Ritsuka suddenly wondered if a polar bear would fit her, despite her physique not corresponding one bit to that of a bear's. She did have the white hair though.

"Uh, we're just resting," Ritsuka started to excuse himself. This would probably be futile but he couldn't say nothing.

"Resting!" Ritsuka winced as Olga's voice raised to a screech. "We're in the middle of investigating a Singularity! You should be looking for clues or searching for something out of place! We don't have time to sit down and be lazy!"

Ritsuka guessed that he had given the wrong response. And now as the guy who had continuously offended her ever since the first few minutes of them meeting, he would probably bear the brunt of her wrath.

He fervently prayed that it would not be the case. But he would need a miracle from God, Buddha, and the kami to not have the director scream and rage at him.

"And you two-!" She started on her list of grievances on him and Mash.

Then the miracle arrived.

A blue screen popped out simultaneously from his and the director's communicators.

Roman, his eyes widened wide, exclaimed before the director could turn her attention to him. "You guys have to get out of there right now! We've detected a large, concentrated amount of magical energy rapidly closing in on you-!"

A humanoid shape, made out of what looked like shiny yet black shadow, clouded in a dark purplish smoke that incessantly rose from its body, dropped down in front of them, disrupting the hologram, but not Roman's voice.

It was ominous, especially as he couldn't see anything past the dark smoke that continuously leaked from its body like a smoking furnace. All he could make out from its landing while the smoke dispersed from around the figure until enough of it covered her form again was that it had a female body seemingly composed out of pure solidified black sludge, with long legs, wide hips, and a large chest. It didn't look pretty though. The air of malice was enough to freeze Ritsuka in his tracks as he felt like an animal who suddenly had a cannibalistic predator lock onto him.

Ritsuka supposed that maybe a devil would work too in providing miracles. It certainly required fewer divine beings. But with the tongue-curling taste of scales, vomited mud, and overly sweet honey while eyeing the ominous mist creeping out from the shadowy being that he had never seen the like of before, he wondered if he would have preferred to have director Animusphere raging at him.

* * *

 _Chaldea, Antarctica, 2017_

Shirou stood in the Central Powerplant, where the bomb had exploded, taking out Chaldea's engineers and technicians and frowned.

This was a scene of the crime. Someone had planted a bomb in this room and primed it to go off when everyone would have been here.

There might still be some clues here as to their identity.

Shirou stood at the fuse box that he had been walking towards a few days ago, mentally recalling the situation. The explosion had happened behind him. He had been walking towards the fusebox when it had gone off. Therefore, the bomb was somewhere in the other half of the room.

But the room had been repaired by magecraft, probably by Caster. It was necessary as they needed to get the Central Powerplant up and running again but in repairing it, they had completely erased all traces of the bomb, such as the outward fall of debris from the explosion.

However, magecraft had its limits. In this case, the repairs had mostly been limited to removing the debris and smoothing back the holes in the concrete. It would have taken more time and effort to repair all the machines broken in the explosion. And they only had one Caster Servant and a lot of things to fix so only the raw grunt work of removing the debris had been done. The same debris which might have been a clue as to the identity of the saboteur.

Shirou's frown deepened. Had the removal of the debris been intentional? Was Caster the saboteur? He didn't think so. If Leonard had been trying to destroy Chaldea, she would have used magecraft to do so, not bombs.

Unless her Master had used a Command Seal to prevent her from doing so and Caster used a bomb as a loophole.

Or was Caster's Master the one that attacked and was using Caster to distract everyone from his own actions?

Shirou sighed. He was not a detective. He had wanted to be a lawyer before realizing that he could be a wandering hero during the Fifth Holy Grail War. But lawyers did not directly investigate crime scenes. Instead they argued in courts of law, defending justice.

But Shirou had an advantage over any detective. You see, he had some evidence in him that was not here anymore.

Shirou closed his eyes. It had taken him a less than a year after the Grail War to realize that he had a Reality Marble. Rin's questioning about his ability to copy Noble Phantasms had let him know that his impressive ability to recall information about weapons and Noble Phantasms was not natural.

A bit more study from that, not to mention a lot of help from Rin Tohsaka, and Shirou had realized that he had an armory of weapons inside his soul. And in there, he could use projection, tracing, and structural analysis without difficulty.

And a lot more things counted as weapons than you would think.

Such as a rain of metal shrapnel from a geothermal condenser that had sheared through his body. Or the piece of metal that had cut through Flowerchild's head. They counted because they had had sharp edges and they were used to harm. They had shed blood as much as any weapon would have, even if it had not been the purpose of their creation. But when they had been shattered free from the condenser, the intent behind it had been to harm. All of which made them just enough like swords that they had been added to Shirou's Reality Marble the second he saw them.

Shirou closed his eyes to better focus on the contents of Unlimited Blade Works. This would be a detailed analysis of those pieces.

He had done this before several times. Even he, an aspiring hero of justice had to make sure that he was going after the murderer and not a victim.

And murder weapons were surprisingly honest.

The shrapnel was young. Had only been their own separate entities for a very short period of time. And they had spent most of that time, sitting around in people's bodies.

Therefore, they had much stronger impressions of the initial burst of violence that had created them than the usual weapons that he analyzed.

Things like where they had landed.

Their trajectory as they had flown through the air.

Where in the geothermal condenser they had come from.

When they had exploded.

And from which direction that the exploding force that the bomb released had come from.

Like there!

Shirou's eyes snapped open as the shards of metal all agreed. Even the pieces that had collided mid-air with each other still indicated the same location of the bomb.

The bomb had not been in the condenser. It had been behind it.

Shirou strode over to the condenser, eager to uncover the next clue. As he slid over the railing separating the condenser from the rest of the room, Shirou was already setting his eyes on where he thinks the bomb had been.

It was nothing special, just another slab of concrete. But the concrete had hidden the bomb from anyone who could have noticed it.

It had been a surprising betrayal for a wall to commit.

Shirou laid his hands on it and muttered his favorite aria. "Trace on."

It wasn't a weapon. It was just part of the concrete. He had no elemental affinity for it.

But Structural Analysis was the mystery that he had had used the most throughout his life. It was the first mystery that he had learned, the first that he had gotten to reliably work, even before his magic circuits had opened.

Shirou mentally ruffled through the history of the concrete, ignoring the structure his mystery was trying to press in on his mind. He wanted to make out the impressions of the history. Who had last touched it, who had last modified it, and who had been the one to plant a bomb behind it?

Finding out all that was much harder than if it had been a sword.

But one of the first things he found was that there were three people who had last interacted with the concrete since it had solidified.

The bomb had been placed here half-a-year ago. As the bomb wasn't a part of the wall, Shirou couldn't read the history of the bomb, only that of the wall. And in particular, it was noting the absence of the wall, not the wall itself as the bomb wasn't part of the wall. And for the bomb, a bomb shaped hole had been opened in the concrete by a mystical mean? Yeah, it was by mystical means not by tools. Anyways, the hole had been formed half a year ago and something had been done to the concrete as well. The bomb itself had only been placed about a week prior to the explosion and the mystical process had faded after that point.

But who was it?

The most recent person of the three suspects had put the concrete back together, using magecraft to repair the hole in the concrete made by the bomb. It also had been less than a day ago. Probably not the bomber.

The second person hadn't done anything. Just put the bomb in and left. Everything done in less than five seconds. Too short for the concrete to pick up any impressions. But this had happened about a week ago. Definitely the bomber but no clues were left as to their identity. No magecraft nor anything unique about the person. But the impression of the hand as it moved through the concrete was somehow familiar.

Perhaps they had held one of the swords in his Reality Marble? But he couldn't think of any match between people in Chaldea and a wielder of any sword in his Reality Marble.

The third person however, was the most interesting one. That one had mystically interfered somehow with the concrete and set it up so that the second person could plant the bomb so quickly. This person had done the magical heavy lifting. But something was off about it…

Shirou frowned as he tried to make out more about the third person. And what was off about it?

It was hard to make out. The invocation of the magecraft had been over six months ago and most of the information about it was overwhelmed by the repairer's magecraft.

Wait, there was something about that. Something about the first magecraft and the second one.

Shirou tired to compare the impressions he was receiving of the two different magecrafts. The more recent one was cast by a non-human with strong human origins. If Shirou had to guess, it might have been something that was once human. Like a Heroic Spirit. Hmm, wonder who that could be with a Caster in the facility.

The second one wasn't cast by a human. Nor did it have human origins. In fact, nothing about it was human.

Shirou stilled as he realized something.

The second one wasn't magecraft. It was a more primal method of affecting the world. Something that wasn't related to magecraft at all but instead operated by different principles altogether. The end result looked the same, but the process wasn't.

And if Shirou had to guess at the process and what could have used it, he would venture that it was demonic.

Shirou frowned. He had never encountered a demon before. The Church was better than him at finding then destroying a demon than Shirou was. Well, they were much better at the finding part with their widespread information network, that was for certain.

But if Shirou remembered what Illya had taught him before she died, a demon was an entity alien to mankind yet formed by them. A being that tries to understand and remove a human's pain, yet they fundamentally fail simply due to the dissimilarity between the demon and humans.

So if Shirou was understanding this right, a demon six months ago had infiltrated Chaldea and set up spots to have bombs put in later.

Then sometime last week, some person had quickly and subtly put in bombs into those spots. No magecraft had been used in this stage, just use of the previously prepared magecraft. Except wouldn't it would be better to call it demoncraft instead?

Then the bomb had gone off. Shirou couldn't tell if it had been on a timer or received a signal of some sort. The wall had no recollection of that, just the memory of being damaged by the explosion. A shaped explosion, with all the force blasting into the generator room where the engineers had been.

After that, Leonard Da Vinci had come through and repaired the wall, taking care to take the bomb with her after she was done.

Well, from that timeline, one thing was obvious. This wasn't an opportunity of attack or something done on a whim. This was planned. Planned from some time ago, at least a week, probably over six months.

And that there was probably at least two people involved, the demon and someone else. Although he couldn't be sure about that. The demon might have been the second person as well. Normal things like common sense or logic might not apply to a being that was a creation of humanity yet had its own way of thinking or morality.

Shirou let his hand drop from the concrete. There wasn't anything more he could discover from analyzing it. The demon and the bomber both didn't leave enough impression on the concrete for him to discover their identity.

But now he knew at least what to look for.

* * *

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

Mash lunged forward from her sitting position, shield raised to block the creepy figure made of black shadows.

It was just in time as a pair of whips, or at least they looked like whips since the clouds surrounding the whip prevented him from seeing what the whips looked like, followed the enemy Servant down from the sky and hit Mash's shield, staggering the girl. But the cloud covered whips were deflected away from both him and Olga Marie Animusphere, colliding with a pillar and shattering it with a loud clang.

Ritsuka leaped to his feet, but hesitated.

He wasn't going to be any good here. Mash and the enemy were moving even faster than the skeletons had been. And watching as the pair of whips snaked back through the air to hit against the bottom of Mash's shield, knocking the stand off of the ground, once again causing the embattled girl to stumble, Ritsuka knew that the strength and speed of the fighters in front of him far exceeded whatever he could bring.

What should he do? If he tried to help Mash, he would only get in the way.

"You idiot!" A screech from one of the pillars drew Ritsuka's attention. "Get over here and hide!"

Ritsuka glanced back to Mash almost immediately. He couldn't abandon her. Should he try to help her somehow?

"If you are behind her, she can't dodge! She'll have to protect you! Get over here before you get her killed!" Olga screamed at him. How was she able to see him when she was completely behind one of the pillars?

He would ask about that later, he decided as he ran over to hide behind a different pillar. She was right, he wouldn't be able to help Mash at all.

He was too weak to help his junior.

* * *

Mash might have paid some attention to her Master and the director's conversation but she was too busy trying to survive the enemy's cloud covered chains to pay much attention to anything else.

Mash was being battered all over by her more physically stronger and more agile foe.

If Mash blocked the chain in her opponent's right hand, the left chain struck her in the leg. If she blocked the left one then the right one struck her on the shoulders.

Fortunately, Mash was strong enough to keep a grip on her shield and durable enough that she could shrug off the blows.

But they hurt!

Mash cried out in pain as yet another chain snaked past her defense and left a blow on her side. But she had seen the blow coming and had set her stance to be ready. As such, despite the blow being strong enough to destroy a pillar, it just dug her into the ground.

She tore her foot out of the concrete to take another step forward. Her skills from the Heroic Spirit were excellent and the only reason that the enemy Heroic Spirit hadn't killed her yet. but she knew that if she stopped, she would die.

And worse, if Mash got so focused on the chains that she forgot to keep track of where the enemy that was clearly not a low ranking Servant, then she might block a chain only for her enemy to appear behind her and kick her with the force of a mortar shell, before backing away again to prevent Mash from hitting her.

It was sort of embarrassing that she had all the skills of a Heroic Spirit but none of the experience. She could wield its shield like an elite soldier but since she had no experience in using it, she didn't know how to identify her opponent's pattern and style. She could block the blows but she would always fall for feints, tricks and traps. Simply because she didn't know how to tell them from a normal attack

Mash didn't know who the Heroic Spirit that tied its life to hers was, but right now she was grateful that they were so durable.

Otherwise, she might have already died at the hands and feet of her first major opponent.

Mash took two steps forward as another whip came streaking back towards her. Her enemy was an opponent who could fight at a distance but she couldn't. She had to be in close in order to deal any damage.

Unfortunately, as she closed in, the opponent didn't have that problem.

The female enemy took two steps back, moving with an alien grace even as her right chain came in at a curve with the spike at the end ready to impale her in her side if she didn't interpose her shield in time.

Mash twirled to her right to block the chain sneaking its way towards her leg while hoping that her armor would block the chain from her left.

The dark weird Servant had already tried this, sending both weapons at the end of her chains against her simultaneously. Fortunately for Mash, the one she hadn't seen had bounced off of her armored skirt when she had blocked the other spike the first time.

Mash's desperate ploy on counting on her armor worked. She deflected the right chain into another pillar, causing it to shatter and spread a spray of rocks over the battlefield while the left chain bounced off the armor behind her shoulder blade.

Mash winced even as she staggered. That had been too close to her arm for comfort. If that had impaled her arm, she didn't want to know what her opponent's weapon would do to her. Probably something bad, like cripple her ability to use her shield. Which would quickly lead to her death.

And she didn't want to die just yet. She hadn't even seen a normal sky!

But now was an opportunity. Both of the chains were flying away from her and it would take time for her opponent to gain enough control to send them back on her.

Mash took three rapid steps forward while the enemy regained control of her chains. But the enemy was more agile and taller, meaning that as Mash advanced, her enemy only opened more distance between the two of them, this time to the side, forcing Mash to turn to the side.

And Mash's opponent was a Heroic Spirit while Mash was only an inexperienced person holding the power of one.

Mash's neck snapped back as a grey blur collided into her head from the front. A trickle of blood leaked from the cut on her forehead where the kicked rock had smashed into her head but no other damage. Not even the warning signs of a concussion.

Had Mash mentioned how glad she was that her class, Shielder, was so durable? If she had been a normal human, that rock would have left a hole all the way through her head.

But even as Mash recovered her stance from unexpected attack, her opponent had not been idle.

Mash ducked as she realized that the whistle of sound from her left meant that the spike and chain was aiming straight for her head. The chain flew over her and Mash took the chance to take another step forward.

The other chain came flying in at a low angle, aiming to strike her in the cnemis. Mash saw it coming, kicked it away with her armored boot, and took another step forward.

But the other chain suddenly snapped its way back. Mash suddenly realized that if her enemy could redirect the chain to strike back towards her, then it would not be a problem for it to miss and then come back towards her from the other side like it was doing now.

Mash dodged backwards only to see it pass in front of her. If she had dodged forwards, then it would have wrapped around the upper part of her shield. She would then have to play tug-of-war with the enemy Servant in order to keep her shield.

Mash didn't know if she could win. The enemy was faster, more experienced and was fighting at her optimal range while Mash couldn't even close the distance. And if Mash's hunch was correct, her enemy was physically stronger too.

The main reason that Mash hadn't lost yet was because the various pillars and roof here kept the enemy from manipulating the chains to come at her from every angle.

But the pillars were disappearing one by one, shattering into sprays of rock that flew all over the battlefield.

If this kept up, Mash would find herself surrounded by destroyed pillars and the roof would fall on her and possibly her Master and the director too.

That would be her loss. She would not be able to escape the collapsing roof while dodging the chains of her opponent.

But she couldn't give up. Ritsuka was counting on her!

Mash took a pair of steps forward while keeping an eye on her opponent and an eye out for the returning dark-misted chains. The pace of the battle was such that they should have been returning -there!

The spike that she had kicked away was coming back towards her, low again, trying to impale her in the leg. Mash was tempted to step on it in order to keep it from being used again but she remembered the time when she had stepped on a ball in her quarters and it rolled away and she lost her footing and fell.

She was pretty sure that she would fall if she stepped on one chain and had to block the other chain. Every one of the Servant's blows hit really hard. And the spike was probably round, not that she could see it through the black mist surrounding it.

Instead, Mash jumped upwards, easily clearing the chain like it was another instance of jump rope at Chaldea's gym.

But her shield did not.

The bottom edge of her shield collided with the chain and the chain wrapped itself around it a few times. Mash eyed it in alarm, but as she was still in the air, she didn't see what she could do to stop it.

Then after the spike slammed into the shield, the enemy Servant yanked its arm back. Hard.

Mash cried out as the shield nearly leaped towards her enemy. Her two hands clutched hard even as the force of the pull nearly pulled her arms out of their socket.

She landed with a stumble, barely keeping to her feet, even as the Servant's one arm kept pulling Mash towards her.

Mash caught herself and set her feet almost intuitively in a position she recalled from A-Team's tug-of-war training. Back then, it had been a training exercise for cooperation. Now, it was a matter of life and death.

Mash preferred the training exercise. The winners got ice-cream, even if she usually lost the game.

Mash pulled hard on her shield, providing her own force on it against the shadow's pull.

The shield stopped its head long flight to the enemy but still crept forward. The enemy's left arm kept pulling the chain towards her.

Mash grunted at the effort she had to put into pulling on her shield. Much to her dismay, Mash discovered that her hunch had been right. The enemy was stronger than her.

And as she thought about it, where was the chain in her opponent's right hand?

Mash's mouth opened as she abruptly realized what her enemy's plan was. The Servant would pull the shield from her, using one hand to control how Mash could use the shield. The other hand would send the chain against her, possibly at a fatal or crippling spot. If Mash dodged, the enemy would pull the shield out of her hands. If she didn't then she would be injured.

Check, possibly checkmate depending on the enemy's next move.

But Mash liked chess. And in chess, if you couldn't escape or kill the attacking piece, then you had another option.

To sacrifice one of your pieces. Preferably a pawn.

And to Mash's right and forward a little, was a pillar.

Mash leaped diagonally, towards the pillar, hoping that the move would unbalance the enemy enough and that she would be able to dodge the other chain which had vanished from her sight.

The enemy threw her left arm back, pulling the chain and shield towards her. Mash hoped that she would at least make the pillar. If she missed, if Mash missed the pillar-

She would lose. She was already moving midair, trying to make it so that she would land with both feet on the round pillar, allowing her to use her stronger leg muscles to help win the tug-of-war. If Mash missed the pillar, she would lose her footing and the enemy would have her shield.

Mash both succeeded and failed. Her left leg, slightly bent to absorb the shock of impact, hit the pillar and stopped, leaving an indent on the white stone.

The right leg hit the pillar and skidded off.

Mash fell. She fell down and spun around the pillar, completely off-balance from her bad landing.

Then the battle changed. A minor opening. Only luck could have caused this to happen as despite Mash's best efforts, everything had been going according to the enemy's plan.

It wasn't much. But chains are a sensitive weapon. A slight motion is enough to change the course of the weapon.

Such as the sudden yank of trying to pull a shield, a demi-Servant and a marble pillar towards her causing the enemy to stumble.

The enemy to catch herself had no choice but to step on a flat piece of rock debris.

But the rock was not stable. As she stepped on it, the rock shifted underfoot.

Causing the dark Servant's foot, and thereby her entire body and arms, to unexpectedly shift a few centimeters.

The missing chain veered off from impacting Mash mid-air and smashed into another pillar as the enemy lost her balance and most of the force pulling on the shield.

Meanwhile, Mash hit the ground and rolled. She angled the shield's bottom towards the right.

Luckily for Mash, that was the right decision. As Mash rolled, head over heels in an impromptu summersault, the chain loosened as the shield spun with the chain, causing the chain wrapped around it to release.

At the end of her roll, Mash used her Servant inherited skills and strength to leap to her feet and charge at the enemy who had now regained her footing, even if she had lost the hold on her opponents shield.

This was it. This was the opportunity that Shielder had been waiting for, that she had been enduring being pounded all over the entryway for. Mash jumped, using all of her strength to advance

The enemy woman flicked her right chain at Mash, using the chain behind her to attack.

Mash gasped as the middle of the chain smacked into her armored back, propelling her slightly forward. But even as it did so, Mash knew that the chain was about to swing around and wrap around her front, binding both of her arms in a position even more disadvantageous than when she had her left chain wrapped around her shield.

If it succeeded, Mash, Ritsuka and Olga would die under this shadow's attacks.

Mash would not fail her Master!

Even if she didn't know how her opponent would use the chain to wrap around her or which direction it would come from. She had to take a chance!

"Yaaaaaa!" She let out a warcry even as she rapidly rotated her shield's stand up to her left.

Her gamble paid off. The chain was looping around from that side. The stand at the bottom hit the spike at the end of the chain and knocked it up, up and above Mash's head.

The enemy Servant jumped back, counting on her superior agility to evade the charging shield.

But the shadow's higher strength and the impact of the chains on Mash's back meant that Mash was coming in fast. Faster than Mash could move on her own.

Mash felt the impact as she slammed into the woman Servant. The force of the impact rattled up her arms.

But the enemy flew backwards instead of towards the ground. Mash's charge had not been sufficient to knock her down to the ground, where her superior agility would not be of use.

Fortunately for Mash, the retreat of the enemy meant that they had moved away from the entryway and towards the street. And the street was not a primitive street, but full of the public amenities of the modern era.

Which meant that when Mash smacked her enemy back, the enemy's back hit a streetlight.

The enemy stopped, her momentum denting and knocking over the pole. But the pole, even as it collapsed behind her back, still stopped the enemy cold as she dropped to the ground.

The enemy apparently didn't have a high endurance as Mash did. If her endurance had been higher, she would have ignored that blow. But she was still a Servant, even if she was a mockery of one. A quick shake of the head after a moment and the enemy gathered herself and pushed herself to her feet.

Just, she should have paid more attention to the enemy.

As the enemy Shadow of a Servant rose to her feet, she should have looked to the sky and not to her concussion. If she had, she might have seen Mash having jumped into the sky and was now coming, shield raised above Mash's head with both hands.

She did notice eventually. But that eventually was microseconds too late to dodge.

Even as the shadow leaped to the side in an attempt to dodge the falling Mash, Mash brought her shield down, using both gravity, the strength of her arms and her own fall to make the impact as strong as possible.

The enemy was fast. There was no denying that. But with a momentary stun and disorientation, the enemy only managed to get her head out of the way of the heavy shield.

The shield slammed into the two legs of the opponent. It smashed right through her pitifully low endurance and crushed both legs.

The enemy woman cried out, a monstrous sound of pain. It was the first sound she had made in the entire fight.

Mash panted, exhausted. It had been a hard fight, with her taking many blows from those tricky chains and more than a few glancing slices across her limbs. But now, her opponent was crippled, unable to use her legs to run.

"What are you doing Mash!" Olga cried from near the entrance to the building. "Finish it off before it gets back up!"

Mash instinctively obeyed. Her shield came up and came back down on the head of the monstrous foe.

It did not resist. Even as the shield fell, the woman did not fight back.

The shadow woman wavered for a second and then the shadows broke into pieces falling away from the woman and into nothingness.

Mash had won.

* * *

 **To be honest, this was a tough fight for me to write. Mash has no experience in fighting another Servant, she is still getting used to being a Demi-Servant and just having a Servant's knowledge/skill in fighting isn't going to give her the experience in fighting that the original Servant did have. To be fair, Medusa isn't exactly sane or at full power at the present moment and neither does she have access to her full breadth of skills and Noble Phantasms, but for a person who fought off many heroes who came to slay her in in her legend, the difference in combat experience clearly does not favor Mash.**

 **Also, Medusa's strength and agility stats are higher than Mash's. Mash has higher endurance but Mash's luck is two ranks higher than Medusa's. Hmmm. Always wanted to know what that luck stat meant in combat. It seemed to have more of an influence on your compatibility with your Master than anything else.**

 **As always,** **thanks to Eiskralle1 and shadyxlr for betaing this chapter.**


	9. Checklist9: Cooperate with Your Coworker

**Sorry, I had a bit of writer's block and the Fate Grand Order's Summer Event kept me busy. Had to do some revisions to the plot, flesh out some characters, do research on abilities, and deal with life. Sorry for being late.**

 **Check List Item 9: Cooperate with Your New Coworkers**

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

Ritsuka stared. He had-

-no idea what just happened.

It was all a blur of shadow whips colliding against Mash like violent waves against a rock until the last bit when Mash had smashed against a pillar. Then he had lost track of what had happened until Mash was in the air and slammed down her shield onto the dark woman.

This was not what he had signed up for when he had talked to the recruiter. In fact, the recruiter didn't inform him that he would be risking his life in saving the world until after he had signed up and needed him to sign a bunch of paperwork.

Figures that that guy had still been holding back information. There probably was a clause in that mass of paperwork that sold away his soul too.

But he guessed that it was what he had agreed to. He had signed on to help protect humanity and now it included watching fights that wouldn't be out of place in a superhero movie.

The clack of heels on the ground turned his head to see Olga get out from behind the pillar she had been hiding behind and, with a flip of her hair, calmly walk over the rubble and scattered rocks towards Mash and the dissolving enemy.

Feeling lost, Ritsuka followed her.

Mash was leaning against the broken streetlight, panting for breath. As the director approached, Mash looked up and attempted to stand up straight.

"Okay—okay—we won…" Mash panted out, eyes wide in stunned amazement. "I was sure I didn't stand a chance, but we actually won—"

Olga nodded once, a smile on her face.

But before she or Ritsuka could speak up, the beep of a communicator sounded from both the Director's and Ritsuka's communicators as they spat out a hologram of Roman at Chaldea, looking a tad harried.

"…Sorry, there's no time to rest Mash," Roman said before another person's voice muttered some words to Roman from off-screen. "'A similar signal as before' is heading that way. I don't have to tell you what you need to do, right?"

Ritsuka was alarmed but not as much as Mash and Olga were.

"What—Same signal? No way—" Mash nearly panicked at the thought of fighting another Servant like that one.

Olga on the other hand trembled once and then broke out in a run. "Retreat! Mash! Ritsuka! Hurry up! We have got to get out of here now!"

"Come on, Master!" Mash grabbed him by the hand as she started running. "We have to get moving!"

Ritsuka blinked at the hand that Mash was holding onto before he belatedly realized that he needed to run on his own.

"Right!" before he took off, shaking his arm free of Mash's.

Olga thought that she and her subordinates managed a surprisingly fast pace. Of course, that opinion excluded Mash, who was now an amazing Demi-Servant that could probably lap the two of them while carrying double their combined weight in shield and armor.

Olga chastened her thoughts. No wondering on the changes that becoming a Demi-Servant did to Mash until after the mission was over. Chaldea could examine the differences in strength, endurance, mana, agility, and luck after humanity's future was assured once more.

Returning her focus to running, Olga failed to notice that she had already made a misstep.

Olga felt her foot bend and slide as she stepped into a pothole in the street. She cried as she windmilled her arms, trying to keep herself from falling flat on her face.

She failed and she splayed out on the pavement before she gritted her teeth and got back up, breathing heavily all the while.

She was not a failure. She would not die here. She would prove it!

But the commoner had already stopped next to her, panting as he tried to catch his breath.

That idiot! They needed to make it back to the Tohsaka manor. She had a defensive rune placed there and they could use the Leyline Terminal to help establish a defense. But only if they made it there!

"Get moving! We can't stay here," she yelled.

The boy nodded and started to run again. She took off as well, seeing the bridge come into sight.

"Roman! What is happening? Why are Servants here?" She snapped. Roman had SHEBA and LAPLACE, he should be able to get some sort of readings. Even Roman should be able to do that.

Roman spoke only over the audio, "I see… We had assumed that this was after the Holy Grail War, but it might be that the Holy Grail War is still going on. But something has gone terribly wrong. The mana measurements are way too high, high enough for a Servant to keep itself going just from the atmosphere and the Holy Grail."

Olga would have gritted her teeth at that but her lungs needed the oxygen coming in from her mouth. Her sides were hurting but the idea of being targeted by another Servant was enough to inspire her to ignore it, even as they ran through the large intersection that was in front of the bridge.

She hadn't needed to run like this since… never. Not even when she was one of the Master Candidates before Father had died and they did physical training had she ran this hard for so long.

And she had hated it back then and didn't hate it any less now. But she was not going to give up and be killed now! She was an Animusphere!

"If that's the case then if the Masters died in whatever event caused this, then it would be natural for the Servants to become Masterless. In that case, it is not surprising that they are trying to target other Servants," Roman continued.

Mash overheard from in front of the two human runners. "Then as long as I'm here, we'll be targeted by other Servants?"

Unethical. Illogical. Olga was upset at the injustice being committed.

"But Mash has nothing to do with the Grail! That's just a wandering phantom gone mad!" She yelled out, angered at the dangerous, unjustified, and illogical actions of these odd Servants. They had no reason to act like that in this sort of place!

"I don't know!" Roman cried back. "I never have heard of anything like this before! I think they just want to kill other Servants until the Grail is filled."

"Then do something useful and get that technician up there! He should at least be able to tell us who the Servants are!" Olga ordered.

They needed to know. Mash was barely able to defeat the last Servant and without a Noble Phantasm or a competent Master, they needed any advantage they could get.

And the only one they could get right now was knowledge of the enemy Servants. Their True Names, their weaknesses, their class and everything else. Preferably before they even had to fight them.

The trio of runners stepped onto the bridge and four daggers flew from the shade of a bridge pillar behind them.

"Master! Director!" Mash cried out even as she speedily reversed her course to get between them and the Servant ambushing them, her shield clanging as the daggers bounced off it.

"Another Servant's signal has been confirmed, it's an Assassin-class Servant!" Roman announced unnecessarily.

"A bit late for that Roman!" Olga snarled as she took cover behind the shield. She didn't feel like she could run another step. Her legs burned, her throat was dry, and the ache in her side had grown into actual pain.

And the Servant was already here. The Servant, like the last, was made of a shiny solidified shadow and black clouds of mist were leaking from his skin, covering the body

The Assassin ominously laughed, a creepy sound like that of a raspy voice trying to cough up a lung.

"-I found it," the Assassin rasped. "New prey. The Grail shall be mine!"

Olga shivered. The voice was like a pronouncement of doom. Doom upon her head.

"I can fight!" Mash loyally cried. She might be able to win. This was Assassin, the weakest of Servants. Surely Mash could win. She beat the other Servant after all. "Senpai, please give me your orders!"

But the Assassin had already jumped up into the air and was hanging like a large, evil monkey from one of the pillars connecting up to the arch of the bridge.

Olga noted that the right arm that was wrapped around the pillar was weird. Like it was too long to be a human arm.

But she didn't know which Assassin it was! Not that it probably would have helped. Assassin Servants were notorious for their reputed legends to be quite secretive about their direct combat abilities. Any Assassin's legend was more focused on how they secretly killed their victim than how strong they were.

Several more daggers flew down from above them and Mash raised her shield to block.

But by the time Mash lowered her shield again to let Olga see what Assassin would do next, Assassin was gone.

* * *

Mash blinked, horror dawning on her face.

She had beaten the last Servant by the skin of her teeth but then the terrain had favored her. Here, the terrain favored Assassin. He had probably driven them here on purpose!

Her eyes flickered among the pillars, looking for where Assassin was hiding. Not there, not there, not there, wait!

Assassin's black mist and cloak helped to hide him among the smoke-filled sky but the flickering flames from the burning city illuminated him to her eyes.

Mash eyed him warily. Assassin had an advantage here. He could throw daggers down from the pillars above her but she couldn't go after him. She couldn't climb the pillars—

But she might be able to kick off of the pillars in order to reach the heights Assassin was hanging at.

Mash eyed the pillars. They were thick and wide, long round cylinders made of steel. Only one foot would be able to land on it but she would not make the same mistake of trying to land with both feet like she had with the last pillar. If she kicked off with only one foot, then she could jump to a second pillar and kick off that one with her other foot.

It was the only option she had.

Mash took a step towards Assassin.

The dark black colored Servant threw a couple of daggers towards her and jumped off to the other side of the bridge, the side closer to her and her Master. He caught himself on another pillar, about half a dozen meters above her, slung himself 180 degrees around it and threw a couple more daggers towards Ritsuka.

Mash blocked the first set of daggers with her shield and then sprinted over to deflect the daggers.

"Master, I can pursue after him. Just give the order and I will do it," Mash requested of her Senpai.

"Uh, sure," Ritsuka sounded taken back by her request. "Go for it."

"No, don't do that!" Olga cried. Mash hesitated even as she started to take her first few steps towards the enemy. "You idiot! Can't you figure out that as soon as you get up to him, he'll just come down and kill us both! You have to protect me and your Master!"

Mash's eyes widened in shame as she realized what Assassin had been doing. He had been trying to bait her. Trying to bait her into leaving her Master undefended. And then he would kill him.

Images of a room filled with bodies assaulted her. Then her imagination twisted her memories into imaging Ritsuka there, just one of many failures, killed by their Heroic Spirit. Olga Marie, her body right next to him, with a dagger in her throat.

"Understood!" she yelled.

Some more daggers flew down from Assassin. Each was aimed at a different target. Mash rotated her shield and hoisted it into the air so that two extensions would block the daggers aimed at Ritsuka and Olga. She dodged the dagger aimed at her body.

After that, it settled down into a pattern. Assassin would jump between pillars, hurling daggers at multiple angles, trying to get past her shield. Mash would block and keep on moving so that she was always interposed between the enemy and her charges.

But Mash couldn't block them all. When possible, she tried to make it so that whatever dagger she couldn't block with her shield, hit against her armored body, twisting her body around so that it would not strike the gap over her stomach.

But Assassin was better than her and he had three targets to choose from.

 _So this is the power of a real Heroic Spirit._ Mash thought as two daggers clashed in midair, altering their trajectory.

Olga gasped in shock as Mash casually kicked her in the back of the knee, causing her to fall to the ground even as Mash used her shield to block the daggers aimed at Ritsuka. A few daggers flew over the director's head, where her head had been a moment ago but one was lower than the others.

It sliced a thin gash across Olga's cheek.

Olga raised one hand to her cheek. She shakily drew it away, looking at her blood covering her fingers in pure shock.

"Sorry!" Mash cried out. She hadn't been able to stop that one. That dagger had been the one that Assassin had hit in mid-air so that it could come at her from a third angle that she couldn't stop while blocking the others.

"Ha ha ha ha!" The Servant laughed. Mash repressed her shiver in order to block some more flying daggers. His laugh sounded like dying bugs. "I forgot to poison that one. Oh well, weak little Servant. I'll just have to poison the next one that makes it through!"

She was losing. Mash realized. No, worse. The Assassin was playing with them.

The weakest Servant Class in the Grail War was beating her.

Her victory over the other Servant was a fluke.

This Servant would kill her.

But only after he had killed her defenseless Senpai and Director behind her.

* * *

Ritsuka didn't like the looks of this.

Mash was handicapped by having to protect both him and Olga and the assassin was making sure to stay out of range of Mash's shield. As Olga had pointed out, Mash couldn't go chase him or else he and Olga Animusphere would be killed.

Which left all of them at their enemy's mercy. And judging by the Servant's laughter, any mercy he would give would be because it was entertaining to the psychopath.

Ritsuka figured that they would receive none. He seemed to be more interested in their suffering than anything else.

Even amidst his worry, Ritsuka had to admit that Mash was amazing.

Mash blocked another volley of daggers that Ritsuka couldn't even make out from the smoke choked clouds in the background of the sky. The dark throwing daggers weren't as shiny as he would have thought the metal daggers would be. Instead, they looked like a less shiny form of the same sort of material that the enemy Servants were made of.

Ritsuka shook his head, wondering at where his thoughts were wandering. He was about to be killed! What was he doing wondering about the enemy's knives?

Mash darted in front of him, surprising him again at just how fast the girl could move while hauling around the largest shield he has ever seen. The clangs of metal bouncing off the other side of Mash's shield declared what she had moved to protect him from.

He opened his mouth to say thanks- even now, being polite was a reflex for the Japanese man- but Mash dashed off to protect Olga from some more daggers before he could even say anything.

He somehow felt chastised by that. He was in the middle of a fight for his life, they didn't have time to be polite!

Trying to figure out some way to help them all survive, he looked skyward, trying to find the shadowy Servant. It took another couple of thrown daggers before he could even backtrack the daggers to the assassin hanging amidst the columns.

The black covered Servant was scary, just hanging there, one arm around the pillar he was hanging off of, the other pulling daggers out from somewhere in his cloak. He seemed like a scary attraction from a haunted house, that came to life and was now trying to kill him.

Ritsuka wondered what they could do. He didn't have anything he could throw at the guy to try to knock him down from there. Mash didn't have a still moment to go after him as the Assassin Servant kept up a constant stream of falling daggers.

Ritsuka's eyes widened. Assassin just jumped from one of the bridge's columns to another. He couldn't even see the figure move but the masked and cloaked figure had just left the pillar. Maybe he had fallen down so that Mash could—

No. Ritsuka found him a few seconds later. He had just moved to a new pillar so that he could throw from a new angle. It was hard to see him as the only movements he was making in his position was his arm throwing daggers. The rest of him was immobile, not moving.

Ritsuka's eyes widened as he realized something. Mash didn't have a still moment. She was running all over the place but the assassin was barely making any movements at all.

In a contest of endurance, Mash was going to lose.

What could they do? What could they do!?

"Director!" Ritsuka turned to the only one who knew what was going on. "We have to get the assassin down from there. If we don't, he'll just tire out Mash!"

"Well, what would you have us do then!" She shouted back. "That's a Servant! Even at its weakest, it'll still be at least 10 times stronger, faster, and more durable than you or me."

Ritsuka was taken back. What could they do? If the director didn't have an idea then…

"Well, can we tire him out somehow? If Mash tires out before him, we'll die but if we make him run or get off those columns, then maybe Mash can fight him." Ritsuka proposed.

Olga looked indignant before she paused. "Wait, if it is an Assassin, then it is the weakest Servant. Also, Assassins only class skill is presence concealment, it doesn't have magic resistance."

She smiled, a maliciously gleeful smile that Ritsuka wouldn't be surprised to find on a shark. "Which means that it is vulnerable to magecraft."

Olga raised both hands into the air, one shaped like a finger gun, the other supporting it from beneath. For a brief moment, Ritsuka wondered what that was supposed to do before he noticed that a reddish black ball was forming and growing at the fingertip.

Oh yeah, magic was a thing now. He kept on forgetting that.

Olga fired the magical ball at the assassin and Ritsuka's eyes eagerly followed as it flew through the air.

The ball went splat on the steel pillar, carving out a hole in the steel structure instead of the hanging Servant. The assassin had jumped through the air, easily dodging the magical projectile.

The assassin even threw a few more daggers while mid-air, causing Mash to have to interpose her shield between Olga and the assassin.

Ritsuka clucked his tongue. That wouldn't work. Their enemy would just dodge every spell that they could throw at him. Not quite good enough.

Olga sighed, maybe at the enemy's rather obvious solution of simply dodging any trick they could throw at him.

Ritsuka wondered what they could do. They couldn't let this go on, otherwise, Mash would wear out. But he didn't want to stand here while Olga used her magic, or magecraft he supposed that the recruiter had told him they called magic among the magic community, to knock Assassin down to Mash's level. Was there something he could do to help Mash or Olga Marie?

He couldn't think of anything. It had been years since he last had his childhood karate lesson and the assassin didn't look like it was going to come in close enough for him to use what little he still remembered.

What else could he do, he pondered while Mash ran around protecting them from the falling daggers and Olga tried to hit the Servant with her spells. He didn't know any magecraft and he didn't have any tools or weapons he could use, not that he would know how to use one if had one.

Yeah, he had been told that he had potential, which is why they were so adamant on recruiting him, but he didn't even have one spell that he could cast.

He didn't want to do nothing while Mash protected him from the enemy.

What to do, what to do?

The Assassin Servant was in the best environment he could have, able to throw or even drop daggers from the pillars while easily being able to use the bridge's columns to hide or protect himself from Olga Marie. It was like he had chosen the terrain beforehand to give himself the maximum advantage.

Ritsuka paused. The current environment helped the assassin. If they fought here, then he would probably win.

In that case, they should leave the bridge and fight Assassin elsewhere.

Ritsuka didn't pause to share his thoughts.

"Mash, director!" he yelled. "Let's take this somewhere else. If we fight here, then he will just hang above us until we drop from exhaustion."

"That's obvious, you moron!" Olga snarled. "This is obviously a trap. What you should be focusing on is how we can beat it without dying!"

Ritsuka blinked. "I just figured that if we slowly retreated off the bridge with Mash covering us, then we could leave the bridge and Assassin would have to come down to fight us."

"Understood, Master," Mash huffed. She was evidently already beginning to tire. "Ready to cover our retreat."

"Then let's go," Ritsuka said as he took a step back toward the road they had gotten onto the bridge from.

Olga eyed the Assassin Servant above them before grudgingly retreating with him. Mash followed the two, using her hearing to tell her when and where the other two were taking steps, all the while blocking and dodging the assassin's daggers.

Then disaster struck.

* * *

"Aah!" Mash cried as a dagger penetrated her defense.

One of the daggers that she had blocked from going through Ritsuka's head bounced off her raised shield and flew into her thigh, slicing nearly parallel to the bone.

Mash stumbled and caught herself on her shield, which she quickly planted onto the ground.

"MASH!" Olga and Ritsuka both shouted.

Mash gritted her teeth and let out a yell as she stubbornly lifted her shield to block a flurry of daggers aimed for her weak points and a pair aimed at the two behind her.

Mash couldn't let those two die. She couldn't! And if it meant fighting with a dagger stuck in her thigh and she would have count on her endurance to keep her fighting through the pain, then so be it!

"Are you okay, Mash?" Ritsuka asked, the concern in his voice touching her heart. Was this how normal humans felt about each other?

* * *

Ritsuka stared wide eyed at the black dagger sticking out of Mash's leg.

How? How could Mash have been hit? She was super-human, a Servant! She moved faster than he could see, she was as strong as a super-hero! She was amazing and friendly, if a bit awkward at first impression.

Was she alright? The dagger had to have hurt! Was this going to kill her!?

Panic and fear rolled across his thoughts.

"Are you okay, Mash?" He asked, barely making out that he had said the words while his emotions rolled tempestuously.

"I am still able to fight but I won't be as mobile. Please consider that while issuing your orders, Senpai," Mash replied, unable to keep a note of pain from leaking out from her response.

Orders?

What was she talking about? She was the one with the experience here! She was the one who could actually fight! She-

She depended on him.

Mash's words from before they had met up with Olga rang through his head.

 _A Servant depends on their Master._

If that was really the case, then he had to help her! She depended on him!

But –

How?

The enemy Servant interrupted his racing yet circular thoughts, in a deep rumble, rife in disapproval and disappointment. "This is a waste of time. I could have handled this on my own."

 _What does that mean?_ Ritsuka thought, unaware that he had just spoken his thoughts. What was he talking about? On his own? But there was nobody else around…

Roman suddenly chimed out from the communicators, not activating the display.

"Ritsuka, they've caught up! There's one more, that's their main force!" he announced from Chaldea's Command Center.

Ritsuka wheeled around, facing towards the road leading to the bridge.

Sure enough, Roman was right. There was another enemy Servant, trailing clouds of black mist from his giant body. On his back lay half a dozen different weapons and in his hands was what looked to be a naginata, if the shape he caught through the dark cloud was right.

But more importantly, he was standing straight in their path of retreat.

"No way," Olga gasped. "we're losing to one already, and now there's one more on the way?"

Mash stared at the new arrival. "Ah-"

The Servant over their head insidiously whispered. "Let's finish this, Lancer. I don't know what kind of Heroic Spirit that is, but I will have her head!"

The other Servant, Lancer if Ritsuka recalled how the assassin addressed him, started to laugh, a demented laugh of one gone insane. It seemed to make his tongue curl as if it had tasted some horrendous fiery sludge. "Ha ha ha!"

What made it worse was that the one above their heads soon joined in, laughing like a murderous duo of crazies who were glad that the world was about to end. Olga Marie's mouth hung open as her rushed breathes came in panicked and Mash trembled in fear.

It was official. This was all a dream. Nothing but a lucid nightmare could feel like this. The murderous certainty of death hanging over their heads, the taste of something foul, the laughter like a demented pair of birds, and the smell and lights of a burning city, all could only come from the depths of the worst nightmare in his life.

"Director, Mash, hang in there!" Roman tried to cajole the two women of the group. "You got to keep moving!"

"Fou!" Fou chimed in as well, jumping at Mash's legs from the ground, trying to shake Mash from her fear. "Fou!"

Neither of their encouragements worked. The laughter of the two specters cloaked in black mist reverberated around the group, keeping Mash and the Olga Marie paralyzed in their fear.

Roman seemed to realize this as he cursed before continuing. "They let fear get to them—Give them some orders, Ritsuka!"

Ritsuka jumped. He didn't know that Roman could speak like that. He seemed like such a friendly, laid-back guy. Who knew that he could speak with the voice of command.

"You're the only calm one now!" Roman explained.

Ritsuka didn't know about that. He wasn't paralyzed with fear like the other two but he figured that was because he had gone through enough fear in the last few hours that he barreled through paralyzing fear straight into a state of feeling like he was in a straight up nightmare and was hoping to wake up soon.

But he supposed that he should at least do something in this dream. It would be a lame dream if he just stood here and did nothing while the enemies _laughed_ at him.

Fight or run?

He glanced aside to look at his companions. Olga was still in the midst of a panic attack and Mash was letting her shield droop and she still had the dagger in her leg. Ritsuka let his eyes linger on the black dagger without a crossguard and then he looked Mash straight in the eye.

"Mash," he calmly stated. He felt sort of numb actually. "we have no choice but to fight."

Mash blinked once and then twice. She straightened her back and set her shield firmly on the ground. The determination reflected in her new stance shone as a contrast to her already defeated attitude of just a few moments ago.

"Understood, there's no other option!" Mash repeated.

"Ha!" Above her, the Assassin Servant cackled again before proclaiming his judgement. "Futile! Fight, then you die. Run, and you still die."

His statement hit home on Ritsuka's expectation for the next several minutes. Great, now his subconscious too thought he had no chance.

He didn't disagree with it though.

"The demise of the futile, oh so miserable." He continued to mock before breaking into cackling laughter again.

Now, Lancer spoke, a pleasant bass in comparison to his companion, even though it still had the sound of the deranged. "Go ahead and struggle," he mocked. "Miserable people are so entertaining."

Now Olga broke out of her fear induced immobility. "F-Fight!" she exclaimed incredulously as she gestured towards Lancer. "Are you serious? We don't stand a chance against something like that, right!?"

Mash and Ritsuka were silent for a few moments. They really didn't stand a chance against either of them. But what other option did they have?

"Even so, we must fight," Mash said in a subdued tone that hardened into determination as she continued to speak. "I will find a way for us to get out of this alive!"

Both of the enemy Servants laughed at that.

"Ha!" the Assassin Servant taunted. "You've just killed yourself, girl!"

Mash almost seemed to waver at the taunt. Either that or a gust of smoke had drifted between Ritsuka and Mash.

"I thought you were just some girl but it looks like you've got some fight in you." A man's voice suddenly rang out from the air around them. Ritsuka glanced about, fearing that yet a third opponent had appeared to attack them but he didn't see anyone. "Then I can't leave you like this."

Then a fireball appeared from behind Lancer and flashed forward. Lancer barely managed to dodge to the side, his laugher vanishing even as the fireball flew past Ritsuka and his companions.

Tracking back to the origin of the fireball, Ritsuka's jaw dropped as a blue haired man with a staff appeared out of thin air, garbed in an odd looking blue and white outfit that looked like it was made of the finest fur for the hood and some strange fabrics. The man was like no one Ritsuka had ever seen before. Not only was he a tall foreigner, but Ritsuka had never imagined a guy wearing a dress and a see-through shirt before.

The guy was ripped though. Must be a bodybuilder. But he was also the first human the three of them had met in this nightmare town of fire and the dead.

"Ugh!" a guttural cry came from above the trio. Ritsuka started in surprise about forgetting about the Assassin Servant and glanced up to see the enemy hiss towards the new arrival. "Who are you?"

The enemy, still clothed in his dark mist, had thrown off the cloak that helped to cover his form. The cloak that was burning merily, even as it flew off the bridge and into the river below.

"Impressive," Olga Marie whispered. "To cast multiple fireballs such that Assassin had to get hit. And at such a speed and without an aria to boot. He has to be a Caster Servant."

Ritsuka glanced aside at her. Had he missed something while he watched the low-flying fireball streak by?

"What do you mean?" the new arrival said, leaning on his staff a little, waving a finger at the hanging Servant, appearing to mock the creep of all things. "Can't you tell? Don't tell me that the mud got in your eyes too?"

If he expected a response, it didn't come from the assassin.

"Curse you Caster," the one referred to as Lancer retorted with bile in his words, sounding like if he could, he would carry out the cursing right then and there. "Why are you siding with a Wanderer?"

"Huh?" the blue haired Caster retorted, like he was answering a stupid question. "Because it is better than siding with you guys!"

He wheeled off his staff, fingers flashing and bright lights appearing before vanishing in split second.

More fireballs streaked towards both of the Servants cloaked in a shadowy mist, forcing them to dodge. But the new Caster didn't stop there. His fingers continued to fly, spreading symbols made of light like it wasn't in defiance of natural law for people to finger-paint on thin air.

"And hey, I don't mind brats with some potential," he continued before winking at Mash with a big roguish grin. "Young lady, be ready for a good fight."

Ritsuka knew that doubts were showing on his face. As good as this new arrival was, Assassin alone had been about to overpower them. Could they really win, even with help?

Some of those doubts must have shown on Mash's face as well as the blue guy offered some encouragement. "Don't worry, you're good. You can turn this around if you can just pay attention."

Mash glanced down at the dagger still in her leg before looking towards Ritsuka and Olga. She visibly squared her shoulders and gave her best reply. "R-Right, I'll do my best."

Caster spared her another grin before his face dropped into seriousness and turned towards Ritsuka. "Hey boy, are you her Master?"

Ritsuka hesitantly nodded.

"Then I'll leave the starting orders to you. I'm a Caster class Servant. They don't really like me right now. Not like the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but for now, you can trust me. In honor of the brave lady there, I'll form a temporary contract with you and fight as your Servant!"

Ritsuka just nodded again.

He had no idea what was going on right now. Enemy of my enemy is not my friend? Temporary Servant? Who was this guy anyway? And why was he still alive when everyone else was dead or a weird, fog covered Servant?

But he reckoned that everyone was waiting for him to tell them to start. And now that they had a new ally, one apparently good enough to put both enemies on the back foot, they probably should start. Maybe by focusing on Lancer as he was between them and Caster.

"Mash, Caster!" He called out, pretending to be more confident than he actually was. He took another breath before starting the fighting again, now that the Lancer and Assassin Servants had finished dodging the last of the fireballs. "Crush Lancer, and then the assassin!"

It may not have been fair to gang up two on one, but they started it first!

Regardless of how unfair it appeared to be, Caster grinned wide like he was enjoying himself and let the glowing symbols explode forwards.

"Understood!" Mash started to run forwards, ignoring the dagger in her leg. Ritsuka grabbed Olga at the forearm and pulled her forward to stay near Mash.

"Come on," he said to his boss. "We have to stay near either Mash or Caster, otherwise that assassin guy will kill us."

Regardless of his dishonorable action of telling his newest friend and a complete stranger to gang up on a guy like a pair of bullies, he didn't want to die!

* * *

Mash ignored the pain of having the dagger shake with every step she took. She needed to leave it in until she got time for first aid treatment. Right now, the dagger kept her blood from flowing out through the wound.

It still hurt! But nowhere nearly as badly as when she had been stabbed or sliced up in the practice stimulated battles, now that she thought about it.

Maybe it was her Endurance parameter?

The thud of boots hitting the ground behind her told Mash that Ritsuka and Olga were right behind her, even as she raced forward to attack Lancer.

Lancer cursed as he noticed that the ambush had been reversed. Now he was between two enemies and Mash was trapped between him and Assassin.

But he didn't stop. All he had to do was team up with Assassin and overwhelm Mash and then they could defeat Caster.

It all came down to who could overpower the opponent in the middle first. And everyone knew it.

More balls of fire from Caster raced overhead to Assassin, who was throwing his dirks at everyone except Lancer. But now that Assassin had to dodge attacks, he wasn't sustaining the overwhelming rate of fire that he had been keeping up before, Mash reflected as she almost idly blocked the daggers aimed for her Master and Olga by holding her shield above their heads.

Six meters to Lancer. Mash mentally prepared herself to ram Lancer with her shield. It would mean that she would have to leave Olga and Ritsuka open to Assassin but she couldn't let them come within range of Lancer's spear.

"Be ready," she quietly muttered to Ritsuka and Olga. "I'll have to ram Lancer so please dodge Assassin while I do so."

"What?" loudly squawked Olga. "Dodge a-!"

Four meters to Lancer.

"Now!" she yelled as she withdrew her shield from overhead and held it up in front of her. She kicked off the ground with all her strength, dashing to Lancer as fast as she could.

Lancer was not surprised by her charge and he raced forward to meet her.

He raised his spear over his head, obviously intending to stab downwards once he could get over her shield. Mash felt a surge of fear as the distance between the two dropped rapidly.

But the adrenaline was kicking in and she felt a smile tempt her lips at the sheer rush of being alive.

One meter.

"Yaaaaaa!" Mash let a battle cry rip its way out of her throat.

"Nggh!" Lancer roared in response.

"Ansuz!" Caster called out.

BAM!

Mash dodged to the right behind her shield, while Lancer's spear thrust down towards where her left shoulder had been.

Less than half a second later, the world seemed to shake as Lancer's torso slammed into the shield and Mash found that her strength was inferior. Mash rocketed backwards, knocking into both Ritsuka and Olga and sending all three sprawling to the ground, her shield fortunately still in her hand.

But the collision had also stopped Lancer cold, dumping all his speed to nothing.

Which proved dangerous as Caster's largest fireball, a sphere of nothing but fire two and a half meters wide and two and a half meters tall exploded where they had collided, swallowing Lancer up in fire.

When the fire evaporated away, Lancer had no black mist left around him and wisps of smoke rose up from his front instead. His skin, once the color of pure black, now had brownish burn marks all over.

Mash couldn't see his back but she imagined he looked much worse where the fireball had hit.

"Ugh—" he seemed to groan before he said his final words as his beaten form started to vanish into the air, "Curse you Caster-!"

Mash rolled off the two people beneath her, struggling to get to her feet before Assassin could capitalize on her weakness-!

Only for Caster's staff to tap on the ground a few meters away and for the incoming daggers to shift their course mid-air to land inside the rune now glowing on the bridge.

"Good work little lady," the Caster grinned from beside the rune he had drawn with the butt of his staff. "Couldn't have caught him in that without you."

"Oh, um," Mash flubbed at the compliment for the mistake she had made. She had been planning on slamming into Lancer and knocking him back and away from her Master. She hadn't reckoned on Lancer being so much stronger than her that she was the one to be knocked back. "Thank you very much-"

"Save it for later," the Heroic Spirit interrupted as his staff whirled to intercept a dagger that would have hit him despite being pulled in by his rune. "We still have that overgrown chimp to take care of."

"Oh, right," Mash replied with a light blush of embarrassment. So embarrassing! To get distracted from one foe by an ally's compliment!

Mash turned to face Assassin, who was even now still hanging in the shadow of the pillars above. His free hand held several daggers which were now visible now that he didn't have a cloak.

"Mr. Caster," Mash wondered as she stepped up next to Caster. "How do you propose we get Assassin down from there?"

She probably should have asked her Master, but he probably had as much of an idea as she did. Besides, neither of them knew anything about Caster and what abilities he had other than he was skilled with Northern European Runes. Maybe he had some Noble Phantasm that could help?

If he didn't, then she would just go back to her first idea of kicking off of the pillars to get up to Assassin. With Caster here, she could count on him to defend the others.

"Skip the 'Mister'," Caster ordered with a smirk. "but yeah, I actually do."

The Servant lifted his staff from the rune, the rune fading before vanishing. He whirled his staff around a few times before flourishing it into the ground. A gigantic rune appeared, stretching across the ground from his staff to the pillars along the side of the bridge.

Mash steadied her footing waiting for something to happen.

…

Nothing happened. Mash blinked as she observed that the rune was still lit up. Didn't Caster have a plan?

"UGH!" Assassin grunted.

Mash tore her eyes back up towards Assassin. He was now using both hands to hold onto the pillar.

Mash's eyes lightened up as she realized what Caster had done. He was increasing gravity to pull Assassin down to the ground, where he couldn't use the pillars to stay above their head and out of range.

Mash readied her shield and waited. When Assassin falls, it would be her turn to defeat Assassin once he falls into her reach. Caster wouldn't be able to win in melee due to him lacking a weapon other than a staff.

And a staff used by Caster versus a dagger wielded by Assassin?

No contest.

But dagger range was where she could fight. She could win. Caster had given her a chance.

And Assassins were the weakest class. He wouldn't be able to throw strong enough that it could escape the gravity field, Caster could provide ranged support and she would press Assassin in melee.

 _We can win this!_ Mash thought as she felt the magical pressure from the rune increase again. Assassin responded by wrapping both his legs around the pillar he was hugging to keep himself up.

"Just get down here and die already!" Olga snarled as she fired her black ball against Assassin.

Assassin just cursed and let go as he started his rapid fall to the ground.

Good thing as the rune soon pulled Olga's magecraft to the ground.

What?

"You just used Ehwaz for _PULL_!" Olga screamed. "Why didn't you intensify gravity instead!"

"Heh heh," Caster chuckled. "I'll have to remember that."

But Mash was already leaping forward. Assassin was on the ground. She had to fight him before he tried to escape the rune.

The pull to the ground was way too strong, Mash felt. Her jump only got her about two meters in before she had to catch herself from stumbling to the ground.

And Assassin had already landed and was using his agility to dart forward towards her, daggers held in his unwrapped hand.

Mash gritted her teeth and charged forward, feeling like the increased weight was not affecting her as much now that the adrenaline for fighting Assassin was starting to pump.

Assassin started the new round of their fight by throwing a dagger towards her eye. Mash rotated her shield to block while tilting her head in order to look out from where the tallest spoke of her shield used to be. She couldn't let Assassin use her own shield to blind her again.

Assassin darted left, throwing another dagger which she easily blocked with her shield while she turned to meet his new direction.

"Hah!" Mash yelled as she thrust her shield out to try to hit Assassin.

Assassin easily dodged and swiveled to get around her shield.

Mash reversed her swing back towards where Assassin was trying to get inside the range of her shield.

Assassin stuck his heavily wrapped right arm out to intercept her shield.

Mash grunted as her shield was caught and held in Assassin's hand. With just his off hand, the Servant had stopped her shield.

 _This is bad,_ Mash thought as Assassin darted his left hand with the dagger in it forward towards her head.

She didn't have many options so she took the first one that came to mind.

"Nnh." Mash grunted as she took the dagger to the brachium of her right arm while intuitively releasing a burst of od, her body's internalized magical energy, to increase her durability there.

The dagger only went in about a centimeter before it stopped as it hit the humerus.

And Mash had a free hand.

She punched Assassin in the head.

It wasn't very strong as she just had her muscles in that arm cut but it was enough to stagger Assassin and force him to release her shield.

Mash took the momentary advantage to immediately step back, use her wounded right arm to grab the shield and to swing its long, bottom edge against Assassin.

Assassin bent backwards, ducking under the shield, and sprang up, another dagger already in hand.

Mash jumped backwards, raising one foot to kick Assassin if he followed.

Assassin dove to the left side, just as her shield came back to where he had been standing.

Mash continued her swing, hoping to finally lay a good blow against the Servant of murder.

Assassin's left arm lunged out towards her thigh, the interior of the thigh, her mind idly noted, the part where the veins and arteries were. If it hit, she would rapidly lose blood until she died.

Mash kicked out with her booted foot, narrowly missing Assassin's arm but she hit his torso.

Assassin went flying a few feet back as he rolled on the ground before coming up into a crouch.

Mash set her stance, oriented towards Assassin, and noticed that the glow of Caster's magecraft was beginning to fade.

Assassin, no longer burdened down by the pull of Caster's rune darted to the side, trying to keep Mash between him and Caster.

Mash lunged forward, eager to stop him before he could get back among the columns.

Once again, she and Assassin clashed, his dagger bouncing off her shield as she kept an eye on his arm to prevent a repeat of him grabbing it again.

Assassin, realizing that there wouldn't be a repeat of the last few seconds, fell back towards the pillars.

Mash pursued, shield angled in front of her.

They kept it up for a few seconds until Mash stumbled as Caster's hand suddenly landed on her shoulder and he threw himself into the air above her shield.

"And you'll just stay put!" he yelled with his staff extended out towards Assassin.

Assassin, no easy fool, ducked away from Caster's staff and sped off around Mash, his superior agility easily out pacing her effort to intercept him.

"Senpai!" Mash screamed out in renewed fear of Assassin killing both him and Olga.

The two stepped back as Assassin flourished his daggers, arm drawing back to throw them!

And then he froze still as he stepped onto a rune that immediately activated in a burst of blue light.

"Did I ever say that I would stop you here?" Caster asked rhetorically as he cockily leaned on his staff. "I knew how that a coward like you would dodge so I set up runes to trap you if you stepped on them."

"Young lady," he turned to address Mash. "Would you like the honor? You were the one who fought against him the longest."

Mash turned to her Master, tilting her head in question. "Master?"

Ritsuka looked at both her and Assassin before he swallowed and said, "Please get rid of him Mash."

Mash nodded and she walked towards the immobilized Servant.

"Curse you!" Assassin hissed as she walked closer. "Curse you, with the Holy Grail, before my eyes! And you Caster, do you think you can take it with the help of these Wanderers!"

"Yeah, I do actually," Caster honestly responded. "They are simply better than you. If Lancer hadn't intercepted, I would have expected the three of them to have defeated you easily."

"Hah!" Assassin barked out a laugh. "I was winning on my own. I almost killed them a dozen times already!"

"Yeah, you were" Caster agreed. "But the young lady was picking apart your fighting style and they were making to escape your ambush. You are only good for one fight and then any survivor could pick apart your fighting style. You just didn't have enough skill to kill them fast enough and the young lady could outlast you even on her worst day. Add to that that she had her Master working with her and a strong magus with them, they would have defeated you without a sweat in your next fight. You lost."

When she thought about it, Mash had to agree with Caster. Assassin kept a constant distance of seven meters from her at all times. He also only employed killing blows that would tire out the opponent. He also enjoyed targeting the limbs, aiming for spots that would kill if left unattended like the veins and arteries.

And he never changed his strategy, even when they got into melee. Assassin didn't know any other way to fight and he appeared to abhor changing tactics.

Not that she was much better. She only knew how to fight from the inherited move sets that the Heroic Spirit that contracted with her had left her. But she knew that he or she knew at least half a dozen different styles in how to use the shield.

Mash was getting close to Assassin. Now that she was closer, she could see that he was twitching and tensing his muscles but couldn't move his body even a centimeter. As an Assassin, he didn't have the Magic Resistance skill. Once he got tagged by a Mystery, he was almost defenseless against it, even if it hadn't been created by a Caster.

Now with her shield in range of Assassin's head, Mash tightened her grip on her shield. She stared at the non-moving foe in front of her. He still seemed dangerous, with his shiny black body under his black cloud of smoke that rose out of his body but like this, he wasn't so dangerous.

Mash glanced down to the dagger still in her thigh and the hole in her arm from where the dirk had fallen out during their fast and furious fighting. Judging by the small bloodstain on her arm, her wound was bleeding out at a ridiculously tiny rate, not even a quarter as much as she would have though for such a wound. Maybe it was just an effect of her being a Demi-Servant?

She was thinking too much again. Just like in the simulations where it had lowered her score until she had learned to act faster.

Mash swung her shield, aiming for Assassin's head.

It crushed like an egg, if without the associated mess.

And Assassin started to vanish just like Lancer and the other Servant vanished, smoke and black sludge thinning out into the air.

* * *

 _Anarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

Shirou raced through the deserted corridors.

He had just been contacted through his comm device down in the central powerplant while he had been trying to find out more about this demon.

Apparently, Fuyuki was not empty of Servants and they had just encountered one.

By the time Shirou had made it halfway to the command center (why was the central powerplant so far away from the command center!?), Roman had called him saying that the enemy Servant had been defeated so Shirou didn't need to rush.

Shirou hadn't been able to identify the Servant from the description Roman had provided at the time. A black servant? With clouds of smoke coming from her?

Caster?

Berserker?

But Roman said that she hadn't used any magecraft like Caster would have.

And no one would _ever_ mistake Berserker for female.

Lancer didn't have long-range weapons like that, nor did Saber. Archer was male, but who knew what weapons he had as no one knew his True Name, except for maybe Rin, but she never shared it.

Perhaps Assassin, his hair was long enough to be mistaken for a girl. Or Rider who was female and used daggers with chains and wore black clothes.

But neither of them had clouds of smoke. Neither Medusa nor Sasaki Kojirou had the legend to allow them to disguise themselves.

So thinking it over, maybe it could have been Rider? Despite the inconsistencies, she was the closest person to the Servant Roman had described.

Only it couldn't have been. Rider did not have a Noble Phantasm that could do that. Nor was her skin black. It couldn't have been Rider.

Figuring out who a Servant was without seeing their weapon was inconvenient, Shirou concluded. Being a normal magus without the ability to almost intuitively read weapon history was more of a detriment than beneficial.

Maybe that was why Rin twitched so much when he said something obvious?

Only, it had just been a few seconds ago when Roman had called back. Now a second Servant was closing in on the three from Chaldea. They needed information and help and they needed it now. They weren't going to survive without some knowledge of their enemies.

So Shirou was running through the corridors, using his trained physique to keep up the run to the elevators so that he could get off near the command center.

Shirou tore around a corner, not even slowing down as he shifted his body weight to the right, forcing his body to turn without having to lose some speed by twisting his feet to the new corridor.

The elevators were just in sight now, a few dozen meters ahead of him.

And Shirou was lucky. Someone was there waiting for the elevator, which meant that he wouldn't have to wait as long-

Shirou's eyes widened as one door opened and the person, one of the surviving magus, if Shirou remembered correctly, strolled forward through the elevator door.

"Wait!" Shirou yelled. He was almost there! Just 4 more meters

The woman craned her head around to see who had called out to her.

Upon seeing Shirou, the person scowled, and slammed a hand onto the control panel.

That was nice of them, but the scowl was rude—

No wait! The doors were closing, not staying open!

Shirou put on another burst of speed, legs more leaping than running as he tried to make it through the door before it closed.

It's now or never!

Shirou made one final jump, twisting his body sideways to present a narrower profile to better squeeze through the thin opening that was left of the elevator door.

Shirou barely made it through, door closing shut right behind him.

Breathing hard on the floor, Shirou tried to catch his breath from his run followed by his all-out sprint and last-second acrobatics.

"Well, look who decided to enter where he was not wanted," the voice of the magus drawled, with a sneer almost audible in her tone. "The murderer."

* * *

 ** ** ** **Whew. Those rapid pace fights are finally over. things should calm down a little now.********

 ** ** ** **As for the contract, while Ritsuka might have not sold his soul, he did agree to waive all consequences, including going to a court of law or seeking recompense, for any damage to his soul, destruction of the soul, mutilation, death, injury, cloning, mutation, having his clone assume his identity, being abandoned in the past, getting operated on, turning into a different person, losing his humanity, acquiring unrestrainable impulses, giving into his impulses, being possessed, getting deleted, turning into digital data, anything that happens while he is digital, getting mind-controlled, losing memories, and vanishing from history plus a whole bunch of other conditions.********

 ** **All in all, he didn't _quite_ sell his soul. He just doesn't have any legal means to own it or protect it while in Chaldea's employ.****

 ** **Their lawyer department, which works elsewhere and whose only representative in Chaldea died in the explosion in the command center, would soon realize that oversight and include the selling of the soul in all future contracts. With a retroactive agreement to being cryofrozen.****


	10. Interlude: Meeting to Order

**Sorry, the chapter is taking longer to write than I thought. More of I don't have as much free time as I used to have.**

 **That being said, I did decide to write this section. Thanks to a variety of reviews, I realized that I probably should have written this up and posted it long before now.**

 **Also, I just broke my record for longest writing project yet! I have never made it to a hundred pages or 50,000 words before (Previous was around 25,000 in NaNoWriMo. And I think the quality here is better than that one...).**

 **Huzzah!**

 **Now back to laboring on the next chapter in my reduced free time. (Please be patient.)**

 **Interlude: Appointment of the Third Acting Director of Chaldea**

(Three days prior and three hours after the explosion. Location: Central Briefing Room.)

(Recording taken by TRIMEGISTUS and registered to Chaldea's official meeting logs.)

Roman rushed through the door to the briefing room overlooking CHALDEAS. Once you could have admired the large model shaped after the manner of Earth, but right now, all you could see was the rubble and stones from the walls and ceiling.

Not that you would see anything good now if the rubble wasn't blocking the window. CHALDEAS' once-blue glow was not its formerly worrying grey but now a fiery red.

Roman didn't know what that meant but it couldn't be anything good.

Nothing overly red was good in nature.

Just take a look at traffic lights! Red meant bad to go!

Taking a seat in the rear most row of the green chairs, Roman took the opportunity to look over everyone here.

Over in the corner were the cooks and janitors, the unmagical staff who were just here to do the day-to-day work that no magus would lower themselves to do. As per their usual conduct for an all staff meeting, they sat in a cluster, separate from everyone else, especially from the magi.

In the rows ahead of him, the survivors sat.

Most of them were magus, researchers and workers who helped Chaldea find, analyze and neutralize threats to humanity.

Roman knew them all. He was the Medical department, the only one currently left alive.

Poor Kylia. She hadn't deserved to be blown to bits like that.

The thought of the explosion reminded Roman about the various injured personnel. Most of the Masters were still alive thanks to the medical technology in the Spiritron Chassis Coffins. But they could only barely keep them alive and even that was in a state that Roman wouldn't hesitate to label as a state worse than death if any of them were awake.

As horrible as magus culture was, it had discovered many ways to keep a person alive in spite of how violated or damaged their body and soul became.

In addition to the wholescale loss of their Masters, including Ritsuka who had collapsed for an unknown reason after Roman had ran down to get the back-up basement generators on line.

He worried about what could have happened while he was gone. Ritsuka wasn't suffering from CO2 poisoning but instead his soul had somehow stopped paying attention to his body. Mash, right next to him and who had been literally crushed by the stone slab above her and had lost far too much blood, was also suffering from a similar condition.

It was like the soul was trapped in a familiar and Roman didn't know how to successfully treat that without knowing more about the familiar containing the soul. If the soul was trapped or lost, trying to free it might kill both the body and soul as it had to poor Tyler of the Masters department eight years ago. Best to leave them alone and on IVs for now until they could learn more about what was going on.

Less inexplicable were his two newest patients, Shirou Emiya and Bobby Ingles. Bobby had injured himself in a run of bad luck while straining to move some heavy stone from off of a body before he accidently dropped the stone onto his own foot, crushing it. He had then stumbled into an unstable pile of rocks and they fell on top of his body.

Fortunately, Bobby wasn't alone so they had quickly gotten him to the infirmary. Bobby's injuries were stable now but it would be a day or two before even magecraft could get him back up on his foot.

Shirou, on the other hand, had somehow hauled a body out from the mess of the main generator room, cutting a hole through the door in the process, before collapsing in the hallways from his rather severe wounds, including a bleeding head wound from some shrapnel that had deflected off of the skull. Roman figured that the ongoing diagnostic would reveal a need for surgery to get Shirou stable and fully recovered.

He would have preferred to be supervising the robot now, but Chaldea needed to reorganize itself in order to maximize their chances at rescuing the injured. They were in the golden 72 hours of rescue but without any form of leadership, they wouldn't know if they were missing someone until too late.

For the one thing, the losses among the various departments were simply staggering. They varied from the security department, the Masters, and the technology departments, which were either all dead, on the verge of it, or had a few survivors such as Shirou Emiya, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Edward, all the way up to the Sustaining Human Resources department, otherwise called the cooks and janitors, who had only lost their department head, Christian Steward, to the bombs.

Roman scanned over the various individuals. Everyone, except for the injured in his infirmary, was here. Even the cooks and janitors plus Caleb and Aidan were here.

But the time to start the meeting finally arrived.

So any minute now, someone would stand up and take the lead.

Any minute now.

Maybe now?

No one stood up.

One question was running through everyone's minds, who should start the meeting off? Who should step up and take command?

Silence prevailed as people looked around, wondering who should step forward and take control.

At last, Da Vinci's white unclothed, genderless anatomy model spoke up.

"Is this everyone?" she asked.

"Um," Roman cleared his throat, as the people in front of him turned around to face him. Swallowing his sudden stage fright, Roman pressed on. "Bobby Ingles and Shirou Emiya are in the infirmary. Both are asleep, but this is everyone else. At least everyone who isn't dead or almost dead…" he trailed off at the reminder of all the lives that had been lost or were lingering on the verge of death.

"Well then," Da Vinci's model clucked her tongue, which was rather odd as Roman didn't know that anatomical models had a tongue and he had been through medical school! "Let's start. Our first order of business is who should be our Acting Director. As we all know, Director Olga Marie Animusphere is dead as well as every other department head with the sole exception being Romani Archaman of the medical department."

People nodded, sorrow and grief on many of the faces. Several of the magus kept their faces impassive or just didn't care.

Roman didn't like the current magus lifestyle and attitudes. To be a magus meant you had to risk your own life and death. But it shouldn't mean that you had to sacrifice your own humanity to do so!

"As such," Da Vinci continued. "I propose that Roman be designated as Acting Director as he is the only Department Head left."

"What!" Roman squawked. "Me! What are you thinking in having _me_ lead Chaldea, Da Vinci! You would be better suited!"

The magi sitting in front of Roman shuffled around but Roman could see nods among them.

"It is the rules," Ullr Longomontonous, the ancient hide-bound Danish magus, said in his accented English. "In the event of emergency, the duties of leadership goes down through the various department heads."

"Precisely," Da Vinci said. "Besides, if I were to spend my time on leading, there wouldn't be any time left for me to do my studies and duties. I am too valuable to waste as Acting Director."

"And I am not?" Roman muttered to himself but even as he said it, he knew it wasn't true. They needed Da Vinci. The Servant was unparalleled in many fields and was more than capable in holding the slack from the loss of the technicians and other employees.

Out of the corner of his eye, Roman could see the non-magical employees were silent but not disagreeing.

Roman looked around for anyone with the common sense to protest against his appointment. He doesn't want to be the Acting Director. He would be horrible at it! But, if Ullr said it was the rules, then it had to be true. Ullr wouldn't lie about that. The old man loved the rules and had been with Chaldea as long as Marisbury had, even if Ullr was demoted by Marie from his previous leadership position.

And unfortunately, the old man was too old. Arthritis was setting in and the man was often seen asleep in what meetings he did remember to attend. But the man was still decent at working in the archives, if he didn't fall asleep in the middle of his duties or forgot things he already knew.

Which he did often. It was why he was still alive as he had forgotten about the momentous occasion and had fallen asleep in his armchair instead of heading to watch the Rayshift.

And as much as Roman disliked it, the truth was that he, Roman, was only person here who had attended the meetings for the department heads.

All right, so he had skipped a few and Olga had kicked him out from some of the others but he had attended meeting that no one else had. He probably knew the most about the details of the First Order out of everyone here.

On top of that, he was the head of the medical division.

Even if the medical division was only himself after his nurse Kylia died in the central control room.

Reluctantly, Roman stood up and made his way to the front of the room.

He couldn't do this. He hasn't led anybody since-

Roman cut the thought off. This wasn't the time to reminisce. He had to lead Chaldea while trying to save the badly wounded.

There was no one else, as unfortunate as that was.

And right now, either duty was a back-breaking full-time job.

He really wanted to run out the door, back to his room and spend the day watching Magical Mari, fall asleep with the video on and wake up to find this was all a bad dream.

Yeah, even he didn't think that would happen.

Roman finally finished the walk, climbing the few steps to the elevated stage directly in front of the window and turned to face the near empty room. Hard to believe these were all he had left to work with. Out of the 80 or so workers and 48 masters that had been here earlier this morning, these 17 were all that he had left right now.

"Well, then" Roman swallowed. "As you know, we are the only surviving members of Chaldea. Somehow, someone has placed bombs in the main generator room and central control room, both the command center part and on the central room and detonated them when they would affect the largest number of people."

"As a result, we lost most of our colleagues. Worse than that, we lost most of our leadership, engineers, and technicians."

"Um, I don't really know what to do next. So I guess the first thing we should do is contact the Association and the United Nations," he confessed, dropping back onto his medical training. If you had insufficient facilities, then you reported it up the line until someone could arrange for the appropriate facilities to become available. "We need help, preferably a medical team and a detective or investigative team or something similar."

"But that is something that the Director," Roman's voice faded as he realized that he, not Marisbury or Marie Olga, was the Director now. "who is now me, should do."

Roman shifted his weight as he scrambled to get his thoughts in order. What did Chaldea need now?

Well, they needed to finish securing the wounded and the bodies. And then they needed to make progress on the First Order.

What had already happened was bad enough, they didn't need for humanity to die along with them.

"So while I take care of that, I need you guys to finish finding the survivors and the bodies. Use the triage system to determine who is what," he advised. "After finding the last, um…"

Roman did some quick calculations, They had located 16 of the Masters in the central control room, 32 Masters who were not located yet, and most of the engineers and technicians were unaccounted for so that should be about another 30 or so. Add in the people from the central control room…

"The last 40 or so missing persons, please head to the control room and start fixing it up. We need that room operational before we can return to working on the First Order," Roman finished. "Without the interfaces in the control room, we can't use LAPLACE, SHEBA, or CHALDEAS or even the full ability of TRIMEGISTUS. Getting that operational should be our first concern after the rescue efforts."

Speaking of CHALDEAS, it should not be red like that. If he remembers correctly, it shouldn't even be able to glow red. That was not one of the settings it had.

"Which brings me to the one of our newest and most worrying issue. CHALDEAS is glowing red," he informed the room, causing some of them to shift in surprise. "I don't know what that means but—"

"Actually," Da Vinci interjected. "If CHALDEAS is glowing red, that means that there is an error. It is a mode meant for the developers to help them find if they made a mistake in analyzing or building it. All that means is that somehow it received some instruction that does not compute."

Roman and every magus in the room blinked.

"So CHALDEAS is glitching right now?" Lyudmilla asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

Da Vinci's familiar shrugged. "Without an interface to TRIMEGISTUS, I can't tell. I have some hypotheses but without knowing what the instruction is or what the data is, I have no way to tell which is correct."

And Roman knew that Da Vinci hated being wrong. She wouldn't speak up unless pressed until she was confident in her answers.

"Right," Roman said. "As you can see, we need to get the control room operational so we can know what is going on. So Da Vinci, is there a reason you are speaking to us through a familiar right now?"

The model twirled, which would have looked better if it wasn't a genderless, naked, and featureless pure white anatomy model from her lab, before saying. "I am just clearing away debris from the control rooms. I already have found the last of the Masters but…"

She paused, obviously not having good news to share despite having found about half of the missing people already.

"But what?" Roman asked, dreading the answer.

"I also managed to find what is left of our poor Director. Her body was crushed to a pulp by debris after being shredded and blasted away when a bomb exploded beneath her feet," the Caster Servant somberly reported.

Shock ran through the room. The bomb had exploded right beneath her feet. That was—This was-

"In addition, Lev Lainur also was standing on top of a different bomb when it went off. I haven't been able to find as much of him as I did of poor Olga," Da Vinci concluded.

Oh dear. This wasn't a secret defense mechanism that Marisbury had installed in case of mutiny or attack. If two bombs were targeted at the first and second in command of Chaldea, then…

This was premeditated murder.

Roman swallowed. He hadn't considered who could have done this but now he had to.

Otherwise he might be next.

He was too young to die!

Roman reined in his panic. He was the Director of Chaldea now. All of this was something to keep in mind, an item on a list.

Right, just another item on the long list of issues he now had to deal with.

He could dump this on the rescuers when they arrived.

"A-A moment of silence for the confirmed loss of our Director and our friend Lev," Roman managed to choke out. It hadn't struck him until now that his old friend was dead. But he couldn't stop now. Humanity would be going extinct next year unless they fixed the Singularity.

The magus and civilians alike bowed their head in recognition of the loss of their leaders.

Roman took the time to gather himself. He was the leader. He couldn't afford to break down now. That could happen after someone came in to replace him as a director.

When he was ready to speak again, he wiped his eyes before clearing his throat, causing what heads weren't already up to rise.

"Thanks for your respect." He somberly thanked the room.

"I will call our superiors and sponsors. Meanwhile, I want the rest of you to head over to the control room. Clean it up, fix it up and see if you can find what is wrong," he instructed the room before turning to Da Vinci's familiar. "Da Vinci, given that none of us know how to get around the main generator room, once you finish moving the last of the debris, would you please head down to the Main generator room and take care of the room?"

"Alright," the anatomical familiar said. "The wonderful Da Vinci will clean up the debris, find the bodies and survivors, and then start fixing the generators. It will be a cinch."

"Thank you, Da Vinci," Roman gratefully said. "I appreciate it."

Turning back to the rest of the room, he asked "Are there any questions?"

"What about Emiya?" Lyudmilla Baran shouted out.

Roman blinked. That was not a question he had been expecting.

"Emiya is unconscious in the infirmary," he answered before pausing in confusion. "Didn't I mention that already?"

"So you have no intention of doing anything about the murderer then?" she asked, ferocity in her words.

"What about them?" Roman asked in confusion. What was Lyudmilla getting at? Did she know something about the attack?

"It was Emiya that did this!" she shouted out, jumping to her feet in a display of her usual overly eager passion. "He is an Emiya, the son of the Magus Killer!"

Several Magus reacted with surprise to that. Romani blinked trying to recall why that title sound familiar…

"The Magus Killer was a _spellcaster_ -" derision dripped from her mouth towards the affront on the modern view of what a magus should be. Roman didn't really understand it as a spellcaster was just as good as a magus in his opinion. "-whose favored tactics involved using guns, modern weapons, and **bombs** to kill us! Just like what happened here!"

All of a sudden, Roman understood what she was getting at.

She thinks she had found the murderer.

Shirou Emiya was an employee of Chaldea, employed for his expertise in fixing machines. He also took long periods of time off to do his own research and have adventures around the world.

He was also a spellcaster, just like his father had been.

"If anyone could have infiltrated Chaldea, planted bombs and then set them off at the worst possible moment, who else than the son of Magus Killer himself!" Lyudmilla cried. "Just like how his father murdered my aunt!"

She whirled around the room trying to make eye contact with as many people as possible. "Emiya is to blame for this! He was trained by the Magus Killer! He attacked us!"

"Hey now!" Tom Nawakowski shouted, his hair sticking out like he hadn't had time to brush it. He had been on the nightshift last night so he probably had been sleeping until the explosion happened. "There is no proof for it being Shirou Emiya! It is suspicious, sure, but we can't act on it until we know for sure!"

He stood up, speaking to the whole audience, not just Lyudmilla. "I am just as upset about this as you are. Like all of you, I lost friends and coworkers to this horrible attack, but until we have some proof as to who did it, we can't point our fingers at anyone. We are just as likely to hit the innocent as we are to accuse the guilty."

"Besides," Edward, no last name since he had been disinherited from his magus family for his interest in modern technology. "This has all the makings of a typical Clock Tower plot. If someone wanted to be promoted, then wiping out all their superiors and rivals would create at least one opening. The next thing they would do is frame someone else so that proof has to actually be airtight as any evidence we discover is probably fabricated."

Roman blinked. He was not a detective. All of this conjecture and theory was starting to give him a headache.

"In that case, this was probably done by a clocktower magus," Lyra Hooke said, a rare look of interest in her eyes. "We have a few on staff and a large number of the Masters are from there. They also had some free reign and most of them are new enough that they might have chosen to advance themselves by taking out the competition."

"Exactly!" Lyudmilla exclaimed, a fire in her eyes as she agreed with the objections. Roman realized in growing horror that this was turning into _politics_. She was agreeing for the sole intent of throwing off her enemies. "He or she wanted to be promoted so they hired Emiya to do it! We have to interrogate the killer to learn who paid him to betray us!"

"Unless he was geas bound to not reveal it," Leonardo's familiar said, thoughtfully. "But in that case, I can probably work around it. There is no contract that I can't outmaneuver anyhow. But what if Emiya being the culprit is what the bomber wants us to think? What if by having us focus on Emiya, we end up giving the real bomber the time he needs to plant more bombs?"

"Of course, there is also the option that the bomber was hypnotized by an external force and ended up killing themselves as well as their target," she continued. "In which case, our culprit would make a clean get-a-way as their tool is dead and we would not be able to investigate who hypnotized him or her."

"But if that was the case, wouldn't only the main generator room or the command center have been bombed?" John Erwing asked, leaning forward to eagerly hear the Caster's reply.

"Not if…"

Roman pinched his nose as every magus in the room, the non-magical staff too intimidated to speak up, set to arguing about who could have planted the bombs, who would be framed or who wanted us to think that they think that we think that they think…

He wasn't that bright. He was just Romani Archaman, a regular guy now. He wasn't a genius like most of the people here.

He was just a doctor, one that knew too much and was now responsible for dealing with this mess.

Which means that he couldn't sneak out the door and go to his hiding spot - only it was Ritsuka's room now, great. If he wants to take a nice break now, then he would need to find a new spot.

Maybe Ritsuka would be amendable if he gave some cake-

No, he couldn't slack off now. He was responsible for Chaldea.

But he would not be able to lead anyone if the magus were too busy arguing and fighting each other. He needed to cut this off now before they started attacking each other in the halls.

And they might actually do that. They were scared of being killed like the majority of Chaldea's workers had just been. And scared people might attack anyone that they felt was threatening them.

"Enough!" he yelled, quieting the surprised people who had never seen him act like this before.

"Enough," he repeated as he started to pacing across the raised section of the room. "Right now, there are only the 18 of us, more if either Bobby and Shirou pull though or if I can save one of the Masters. We are Chaldea. We act to preserve the future of mankind."

He pauses and stares each person in the eye before moving onto the next. "We are in the middle of a First Order. Everyone, the Association, the UN, ATLAS, the Sea of Estray, and the Clock Tower along with everyone else is united to seek the future survival of humanity."

"We have to be united. If we start fighting each other, then we jeopardize the First Order. I don't want that on my conscience. Do you?"

He paused, letting the silence speak for itself.

Several people were looking down at the ground, ashamed of how they had been acting.

Lyudmilla spoke up, hesitantly like she was confused. "But what about the bomber? Shouldn't we stop the bomber before we get back to saving mankind?"

Tom spoke up, "We have to first identify the bomber. Otherwise, we'll just hurt ourselves even more."

"Besides," Leonardo said, pretending as if she hadn't been a part of the earlier argument. "If we move prematurely, we might end up having the bomber start a fight in the halls. That could damage Chaldea even more and set the recovery efforts back even further. We don't have long before humanity goes extinct."

"Alright. Focus on me please," Roman said, drawing attention back to himself. "As Acting Director, I institute this command as necessary to the fulfilling of the First Order. You are not to fight anyone save in self-defense. You are to always be working with someone else. Except for the Sustaining Human Resources department." He nodded over to Karen Cook, the head cook and second-in-command of the SHR department, who was now the head of it since her boss was dead. "You are to keep on doing your duties, making food, and cleaning Chaldea."

"Um, just a question," Nadja spoke up, scratching her arm. "How are we supposed to fix the Control Room? Because I don't have any talent in making stuff."

Roman stopped. Oh yeah, the engineers, technicians, and the mechanically inclined were all dead.

"I can fix it and we do have manuals for the machines," Da Vinci piped up. "They should be able to let anyone who is smarter than a monkey diagnose the machines and fix the problems. You just have to follow the instructions."

"Unless you're a genius like me," the female Servant smugly declared. "I'll just fix them up to better than they were before. No one can surpass my ultimate genius!"

Roman brightened. "Manuals! Leonardo can you go over the manuals and write them so that even the janitors can use them?"

Leonardo's familiar smiled. "Yes, I can do that. If I just set up a hologram with the manuals displayed and a voice-to-text program, I can do it with my impeccable genius without taking wasting any further time and it should keep me from getting too bored. Good job, Roman! You are proving to be the right choice for Acting Director already."

"Alright," Roman excitedly turned to the others. "Sorry, Karen, I'll need to borrow your employees to supplement the magus in fixing the machines."

"Now hold on!" Edward protested. "I have some projects that I have been working on! I can't stop and leave them alone!"

"As if a family-less worker could work on anything meaningful," Lyra sneered. "My experiments require the utmost attention and focus with one of them about to reach the conclusion in three days. I can't be spared to fix petty machinery, Romani!"

Roman quaked under the protesting workers' stare, but stood firm. "We are in a crisis while dealing with a First Order. Only the most important of tasks and resources are to spared from dealing with this."

"Your experiments and your projects," he said as he turned to Lyra and Edward in turn, "are secondary to the First Order. If we fail here, all of us will go extinct. Which means that whatever you make and whatever you discover will be lost forever. If you must, clean up after yourselves but I hope that you will do so quickly because we need you, your hands, and your knowledge."

"But," he grinned. "If we succeed, then humanity will be saved! Let's do it people!"

"Yaaay!" He cheered.

Only Lyudmilla joined in before she faded under everyone else's scrutiny.

Leaving Roman to cheer alone in a room filled with blank looks, Ullr's quiet snores, and Lyra and Edward's scowls.

After a few seconds, Roman caught onto the lack of enthusiasm. His cheer grew quieter before he let it die into an awkward silence before he coughed.

"Alright then," he said, embarrassed. "Karen, you'll come with me to the communications room. We'll contact the Association and the UN from there. Your cooks should get back to making the meals but everyone else should get the manuals and get to work in clearing the debris and fixing the Control Room. Da Vinci, please get to work on the manuals as soon as possible but we will probably need the main generators examined and any potential damage from them neutralized. Can you get onto that?"

Roman hopped down the steps from the platform at the front of the room and paused. "Oh, and before I forget, Karen, you're now the head of the SHR department and Da Vinci, you're now in charge of the Technology Development Division. Any further leadership positions will be assigned later."

"If there is nothing else," Romani paused waiting for anyone to speak up. No one did. "Then we'll conclude the meeting. Everyone who didn't get an earlier assignment from me should go to the control room and start fixing it up. Use your communicators to get the manuals…"

Roman sighed as he realized that the technician's manuals were locked to anyone who wasn't a leader or a technician.

"And I'll get permission for each of you to access the technician manuals in addition to the user manuals. Until then, just be patient and do what you can. Karen, please come with me."

As the head cook joined him at the door, people getting to their feet behind them, he muttered to her, "We have to discuss how to best use your people. We don't need as many cooks now as before so..."

(End Recording. File saved to the official Chaldean meeting logs, subject to review and approval of the director.)

* * *

 **And no, Roman does not know about the security recordings. Those recordings were part of operational security and as such were not spoken of needlessly.**

 **Finally, our murderer might have known about the recordings. Take that as you will.**

 **And as for the magus, well, they are primarily intellectuals. They have confidence in their thoughts and ideas. Entertainment for them includes great debates where they share their ideas and smash others' faulty arguments.**

 **As for them acting hypocritically, that is unfortunately human.**


	11. Checklist 10: Consultation with Caster

**Reminder: This is a Fate route Shirou. He doesn't know a lot of things that an Unlimited Blade Works Shirou would know.**

 **Checklist Item 10:** **If a Task is Beyond Your Ability, Consult with Someone Who Can**

 _Antarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

Inside the elevator, Shirou got to his feet.

He recognized Lyra Hooke. The English blonde was a researcher and one of the dozen magi, including both Shirou and Caster, that was still alive in Chaldea. She spent most of her time doing research and didn't interact with anyone of a lower status but from what he heard, she was a good worker and rather clever.

However, more immediately important, she was definitely hostile.

But for what reason?

Shirou didn't know but he figured it could be one of a hundred options.

It could have been because people were suspecting him of planting the bombs.

Shirou could have offended her in the past.

Or it could have been because of something Dad did.

Or maybe it was just the superiority of a magus of older bloodlines looking down on younger bloodlines, it was rather common in the Clock Tower.

It could have been from the dislike towards a Japanese magus.

It could be that Shirou was a spell caster instead of a proper magus.

She could have a grudge against Rin and extended it towards all of her allies.

He wished the last one didn't happen every once in a while. He had enough troubles without Rin adding onto them. Luvia still got angry and red in the face when she saw him every once in a while.

Heck, he even had someone dislike him because he was using a certain shampoo.

That guy's dislike actually made a lot of sense when you realized that company who made the shampoo that Shirou used had put that guy's company out of business and drove him into poverty and his family had left him.

And then there were all the people who glared at him in public places. He wondered why that hatred increased only appeared whenever he talked with a woman. It had a flavor of jealousy but that couldn't be.

Otherwise they would have spoken with the woman in question.

And what was there to be jealous over?

Did they hate the woman or something?

But returning to the situation, Lyra Hooke was hostile and Shirou did not want to be on the ground when faced with a potential enemy.

Shirou quickly got control of his breathing, turning from the rapid breathing of recovery to a controlled breathing that would allow him to fight if needed.

She could be the bomber or in collaboration with either the demon or the bomber. She could even possibly be hypnotized or possessed by the demon. There was magecraft to interfere with the mind or take away a person's will.

And if a magus could do it, then why couldn't a demon? And while a magus had defenses against mental interference magecraft, the defenses were no guarantee of victory. They could be overwhelmed, especially if the magus was surprised.

Or she could be an innocent who would act on a grudge when all of Chaldea is recovering from the recent attack. It was depressingly common.

"I would thank you for keeping the doors open, but I doubt that you were waiting for me to arrive," Shirou said cautiously, keeping an eye on the small twitches of the magus.

She sneered in response.

"I did not want for an uppity Oriental to taint the air here," the accented Englishwoman drawled. "We are doing work for the benefit of humanity. We do not need for a backwater savage to interfere."

So it was something petty after all. Didn't mean that something more dangerous could be hidden underneath. Like that one time that he had turned a mugger over to the police only to discover that the mugger was being used as a front for a greedy magus to acquire money.

Honestly, it was more of a pain to have little good deeds like that come back as a monster of a mess.

Like when he helped Shinji out with cleaning the archery dojo only to end up in the Holy Grail War.

That had been a mess.

One where he met Saber, and was glad for, but still a mess.

A mess just as big as this one, come to think of it. The Grail being primed to destroy everyone was about the same type of problem as SHEBA, TRIMEGISTUS, and LAPLACE reporting that humanity will soon be extinct.

"I'm sorry," Shirou calmly but warily apologized. He didn't know what he was apologizing for, only that it was more likely to keep the peace. He had too much experience in apologizing for things he had no idea about how he had offended. "I'm just here to help the engineers, well I was at least, and to help out however I can."

Hold your sarcasm, hold your sarcasm! She does not need a comment on him already having fixed the ventilation!

There, a peace offering of help. Most likely it would be refused as the magus would hold her work as secret as—

"Ridiculous," she sniffed with an air of disdain. "I have no need of commoner ruffians to fumble around in my research room. Goodness knows what dirt you would track onto my delicate experiments."

Yeah, that too.

Shirou didn't mind so much. He had managed to accidentally activate a summoning circle that he didn't know about in his own workshop after all.

He might cause a disaster if he did something similar in another magus' workshop.

"I would be more worried about the snow as the nearest dirt is buried meters underneath," Shirou replied as he stepped towards the floor buttons. He held his comm before the scanner and waited as it acknowledged his access. He pressed the button for the Command Center's floor.

Hooke scowled, it wasn't very pretty unlike when Rin or Saber was angry.

Less worrisome though.

"Snow or water drops are worse, moron!" she snarled. "The residue left behind from the unevaporated impurities require molecular scale cleaning and purification to get rid of without damaging the reflective apparatus! And while the drop is still condensed, the refraction of the dihydrogen oxide misaligns the photons and weakens the concentration! There is no tolerance at that scale!"

Shirou blinked. Apparently, the magus had some complaints about water.

And that was the half that he understood.

Okay, more like a quarter.

Alright, he got lost somewhere around impurities.

"I'm sorry?" he said uncertainly.

She sniffed before turning away, crossing her arms in an indignant huff.

"You are not worth my time, _commoner_."

The disdain dripped from her words like water from a roof.

Shirou winced and let the conversation, as much as you could call the barrage, die.

She was plainly unhappy and he wanted to save people, not plunge unnecessarily into the rough seas of a conversation with an angry woman. Much less an angry magus.

He missed Taiga. At least she let you know that she was angry rather than imply it through minor clues that no one but another woman could sense.

She still was likely to bite your head off, but that had more to do with her being hungry than being angry.

As the elevator rose to the central floor, Shirou kept an eye on the magus who was, without much obvious effort on her part, ignoring him.

Her clothing was rather fine, and if he remembered correctly, was one of the dresses that were in style among the researchers in the Clock Tower. Evidently, she had been at the Clock Tower recently or still had connections to them.

But more importantly, could she be allied with the saboteur?

Shirou had no way of knowing. She wasn't using magecraft and none of her mystic codes, if she was wearing any, was leaking prana or doing anything to the environment. He couldn't get a grasp on her scent.

Not that he had been able to distinguish the demon's scent. The power that had shaped the hole in the wall where the bomb had been, was dispersed by the time he looked at it.

And Caster's scent from using her magecraft to clean up the room covered over any possibly lingering scent.

But right now, the best thing he could do to find the murderer and saboteur was figure out who had let it into the heart of Chaldea past all the defenses that should have detected it.

It didn't help that most of the list of likely candidates were dead.

Shirou's thoughts were shaken by the ding of the elevator.

They had arrived at floor of the command Center.

"Goodbye," Shirou said before tearing off as soon as the door opened.

He did not hear a reply.

* * *

Shirou waited, chest heaving for breath, as the security panel scanned his communicator and himself.

He had sprinted through the hallways to here, which hadn't taken very long as the elevators weren't that far from the command center, in less than two minutes.

The panel's light flickered green and the door opened.

Shirou stepped through to see the screen in front of Roman's central workstation showing the image of a blackened, burned Lancer Servant emerge from a massive fireball.

Musashibou Benkei's naginata, along with the half-a-dozen weapons on his back registered themselves to Shirou's Reality Marble.

Well, now he had a Noble Phantasm rake, mallet, sickle, and saw if he ever needed one.

He probably wouldn't ever need one as it would be cheaper to project one of the more ordinary tools than to use a part of Benkei's Noble Phantasm, the Seven Implements. Although the Noble Phantasm of the Eighth Implement which temporarily steals an enemy Noble Phantasm, did present an interesting tactic he hadn't considered before…

But Shirou did have to wonder why Hitachibou Kaison was summoned under the identity of Benkei rather than the actual Benkei himself.

Shirou actually had seen one of Benkei's Thousand Weapons in a museum, even if it had been attributed to a samurai whose ancestor had picked it up during the looting after Benkei's final battle at Koromo River, so he knew that Benkei was an actual person.

He would have shrugged except Benkei or Kaison or Lancer, whichever name he preferred, was now vanishing in the manner of a dying Servant, while uttering his dying curse against Caster.

Although, he remembered dying Servants from the Fifth War having more sparkles.

Why was the imposter Servant not dying one of the cleanest ways that Shirou had ever seen?

It was just that, after a Servant dies, there aren't any internal organs to clean up, no blood to mop up, not even a corpse to bury! Just poof and all the mess is done away.

Feels a bit like cheating. Like it was cheapening the loss.

There should be something left behind for others to help remember the people who died. Even Arthur's grave helped to serve that purpose, despite her body never being laid to rest there.

But more importantly, Lancer, Shirou decided to just call Benkei Lancer for now, had been fighting against Kyrielight and the other Chaldeans.

But who was that blue haired Caster who just did the fastest bit of runecraft Shirou had ever seen to save the three people from Chaldea? He seemed familiar…

The screen shifted and the wooden staff that the Caster was using came into perspective.

Shirou focused on the staff that Caster Cu Chulainn -he hadn't known that Lancer of the Fifth war could be summoned as a Caster. The lack of blue spandex and Gae Bolg had confused him- used. Apparently, Caster had used it a few times to whack idiots on the head as well as a staff weapon, giving it a closer affinity to a weapon than most tools to carve runes achieved.

Very good workmanship though. He liked the grain of the Blackthorn wood and how the staff had been carved without metal. Although most people would never seen a druid staff made from a tree that the Irish goddess Morrigan had grown personally and given to a person who had earned her favor.

Even if the staff had been used before the start of the Singularity to fight his younger self in order to give a young, unarmed Shirou a sporting chance. Which, when you compared a Servant against a normal human, was about as sporting as a shrimp against a whale, even if it wasn't as painful as getting stabbed in the heart by Gae Bolg. Twice.

No, he didn't have hard feelings over it. If Kirei had been his Master and Shirou had been his Servant, he would have wanted to stab and kill in as a painless manner as possible.

Returning to the staff, he could understand Chulainn's thought process behind it. Younger Shirou had been an idiot without any weapons. If you were looking for a good fight like Cu Chulainn was, it made sense to use a staff primarily used for making runes and whacking hotheaded idiots against a young fool.

Hey, he was more experienced and wiser now, he could critique his younger self!

And he freely acknowledged that he was naïve and an idiot back then, even if his heart hasn't wavered since he fell in love with Saber.

He would save everyone he can and he will find a way to meet Saber.

Even if it took forever.

But the team-up of Caster and Kyrielight against Assassin was more urgent so Shirou turned his attention back to Mash Kyrielight getting up from the pile of magi on the ground.

"Good work little lady," the Caster said from the screen showing the situation inside the Singulariy. "Couldn't have caught him in that without you."

"Oh, um," The new demi-Servant stuttered "thank you very much-"

Shirou saw Hassan of the Cursed Arm's dirk be curved into a collision course with Caster only for Caster to whirl his staff and knock the thrown dagger out of the sky.

"Save it for later," Caster said.

Lancer -no, Caster now- had always enjoyed focusing on a good fight. Looks like that tendency hadn't changed.

Caster gestured at the Assassin that Shirou could see hanging from the pillar of the bridge. Was that the Fuyuki Bridge they were fighting on? "We still have that overgrown chimp to take care of."

"Oh right."

Shirou could almost hear the embarrassment of a young child being corrected for a basic mistake in her voice.

Refocused onto the opponent before her, the young girl positioned herself to get closer to her ally while still covering the director and the last of the Masters.

Shirou figured that he wouldn't be of much use watching the fight. He couldn't help save anyone from here and Cu Chulainn would give up his spear before he would lose to an Assassin Servant.

Oh wait, he didn't have Gae Bolg right now.

Maybe Shirou really should be concerned.

Pushing it aside until he could find something that he could do to help, Shirou stopped to survey the room. Now where was Roman- ah there he is.

Shirou, now walking at a steady pace, approached the visibly worried Roman, who held one hand up near his mouth like he was about to start chewing on his nail or something.

Shirou tapped the anxious acting director of Chaldea on the shoulder.

"GAAHHH!" the man screamed as he jumped up in his seat, turning to face Shirou.

Shirou held back a laugh at the over-reaction.

"Is there something I can do to help?" he asked, a slight smirk on his lips.

As it turned out, Aileen Darkwood was needed to help diagnose a part of the Revocation-Invocation System but he had been watching the vital statistics of the Masters and Director. A job that anyone could be trained to do, but that Chaldea no longer had the trained manpower for.

So Shirou got the job of watching the vital statistics while Darkwood worked on making sure that the device to bring back the people stranded in the Singularity would work as intended.

And since Shirou, like most of the survivors in Chaldea, didn't know how to read the holographic monitor, he had half of the screen open to the manual, written by Leonardo Da Vinci, and the other half being the vital statistics.

The most important part of the statistics was a line graph with three separately colored jagged lines nestled between two solid orange straight lines. It represented the measurement of Gaia's rejection of the Spiritron familiars acting as the bodies for the soul of the time traveled travelers. The orange lines represented the warning of severe rejection. If any of the dull grey, white, and purple lines crossed them, he was supposed to report it immediately. If it crossed the red lines, which were currently out of scale on the graph, then he was to initiate emergency protocols, which would include recalling the three back before Gaia removed them from existence.

Or so the manual said. Shirou hoped that the manual would explain what the other graphs and numbers were for in later sections.

All it had said so far was some combinations of factors from the other graphs would also need to be reported but he hadn't read far into the manual yet to know what things he should be worried about. He just figured that if Ritsuka, Olga, or Mash's lines crossed any red, orange, or yellow boundaries, he should report it.

And hope that he managed to read more of the manual before the other factors hit critical level.

Shirou saw light flash from the projection that Roman was displaying onto the glass above him as Caster used Mash as a springboard to launch another fireball at Assassin, who dodged both the fire and Mash's strike before running towards the defenseless brand-new Master -what was his name again? Oh, yeah, Ritsuka Fujimaru- and the Director.

And then Assassin stepped on a rune which quickly flashed and released what looked like to be a paralysis trap judging by Assassin ceasing all movement.

Shirou glanced back down to the graphs, making sure that nothing deviated severely. Nothing had; Ritsuka and Mash's readings were both good and Olga's, which was high but still firmly within acceptable limits.

Shirou glanced over to the other half of the screen. Darkwood, before he had left the command center, had made sure that Shirou understood how to open and close additional screens.

Rin would have both idolized and hated him, Shirou mused. Darkwood did everything with the grace and elegance a nobleman was supposed to have and that Rin's mask was meant to display. He also believed in Noblesse oblige, which was a rather surprising attitude to find in a member of magus nobility.

Made more sense for a magus working at Chaldea though.

That being said, he was still a magus and from a noble family at that. Probably would vivisect Shirou with the same ease as deciding on and ordering tea.

Nice chap though. And some teas were worth lengthy deliberation.

In the hypothetical situation of impending cuts, Shirou hoped that he would be worth a good deal of deliberation before beginning the vivisection. It would give him more time to escape before he lost something important, like a lung or a heart again.

As for Darkwood, Dr. Roman supposedly was leading a pool on what would crack that mask. If Shirou thought that Berserker would ever appear, then he probably would have bet that Berserker charging at him would crack Darkwood's public persona.

Hard to restrain fear with Berserker Heracles charging at you, screaming with a voice fit to shake the earth.

Shirou paused after reading another paragraph from the manual.

The small group of Chaldeans were relaxing after Mash dispatched the Assassin Hassan.

They were with Caster Cu Chulainn and were settling down from combat ready stance.

Well, at least Mash and Olga were. Ritsuka still looked as clueless and scared as ever.

Poor guy. Shirou could recall being like that during the Grail War.

Facing heroes out of legend, all of whom were determined to stab you, crush you, eat the souls of your classmates, crush your friend into a pulp with his bare hand, kill the innocent people around you, shoot you, kidnap or rape the girl you were in love with was not what people wanted for a job experience.

Shirou hoped that the guy had a somewhat easier time than the last War.

Only this was the first time, wasn't it? The monitor declared the Rayshift displaced travelers to be in January 31, 2004 at 11:30 pm.

Shirou found time travel confusing. Why didn't either Japanese or English have grammar forms for it?

Might have something to do with it being so rare. Like it was unheard of or something.

But as for them trusting Cu Chullain, the Lancer -Caster!- wasn't a bad guy if he was on your side. He had helped him and Saber escape when Cu Chulainn chose to fight Gilgamesh and turned on Kirei.

The audio for Roman's hologram was playing in the command center, letting Shirou and the other workers hear what was being said.

"Um, excuse me," The girl, Mash, hesitantly spoke to the Caster Servant. "Thank you for saving us from danger."

Interesting that it was the Servant who was stepping forward. Most Servants let their Master do the negotiating and speaking for them.

"Hey, good work." Caster grinned as he leaned on his staff. "You don't owe me for this fight. You held your own and it was a fun fight."

His grin widened as he added "You should be more worried about your body. That Assassin kept targeting your butt like a pest!"

Shirou didn't recall that. Assassin had been rather meticulous in aiming for weak points and the bottom didn't offer too much of an advantage if it got cut off or stabbed.

"Oh!" Mash blushed and fidgeted.

Caster took a few steps forward, getting into Mash's personal space, much to her obvious discomfort and unease.

"Hey, you look fragile but you have a pretty nice body! Icing on the cake!" he complimented as he looked her over.

Then he grabbed her injured arm and examined it close up. "Don't know what class you are, but you're pretty sturdy… Maybe Saber?"

"No," he narrowed his eyes as he looked her over again. "You don't have a sword. Not that it means anything in a war like this. Nobody uses the weapon they are supposed to." He grumbled. "Lancer uses too many weapons, Saber hides her sword, and who ever heard of an Archer that likes to use swords instead? At least Berserker and Assassin use appropriate weapons. And why couldn't I have gotten Lancer instead of this stupid staff?"

While Lancer grumbled about how liberal the Servant Classes were, the director had started a whispered conversation with Fujimaru.

"For now, let's get some information. He seems to be a decent Heroic Spirit," Roman interjected into their hushed conversation. "Hey, Shirou. Do you know who Caster is?"

Shirou turned around in his chair as he turned to face the person addressing him. "He is Cu Chullain-"

"Hold on a moment Shirou, they can't hear you right now," Roman interrupted Shirou while his fingers flew over the virtual keyboard. He tapped a final key before nodding. "Okay, now please continue."

"Caster is Cu-" Shirou started again.

"Oh, what is this? Some means to communicate through magecraft." Caster stepped away from the young lady to take a closer look at the projected hologram. "And why you are still around Archer? Last I saw, Saber had defeated you and you were Saber's faithful little pup."

Shirou blinked.

 _What? Archer wasn't here, was he?_ Shirou wondered as he turned around to examine the room for that annoying Servant.

"Sorry?" Shirou asked, confused when he couldn't find Archer.

"Oh, you aren't Archer," Caster frowned before he smiled. "Must be a coincidence then. You just look a bit like him…"

Caster trailed off as he stared at the hologram being projected into the Singularity.

"No way!" he shouted. "You don't mean that—Hah hah hah hah hah hah!"

Caster threw back his head and laughed, slapping his leg.

Shirou blinked. Lancer, now Caster, was acting weird. Admittedly the Servant was in a different form and from what he had read about Servants, a Servant's personality changed depending on what portion of their legend got copied.

"What?" Director Animusphere demanded. "What is so funny?"

"That kid- he he he- He became—heh heh heh- I was – Ha ha ha ha!" Caster managed to get some words out past his billows of laughter before he dropped to a knee, laughing as he clutched his staff like it was the only thing keeping him from rolling on the floor.

Shirou waited Caster out. He didn't get what was so funny.

Did something happen in the past for this singularity?

"I demand that you tell me why you are laughing!" Olga Marie furiously stamped her foot as Mash and Ritsuka stared on in befuddlement.

* * *

Much to everyone's annoyance and confusion, once Caster caught his breath he refused to explain what he found so funny. Said if Saber's Master didn't know by now, then there was no point in saying. He was a druid and a guide, not a narrator.

Olga was incensed by the refusal but since Caster refused to explain and Shirou didn't know, she docked Shirou's pay.

She wasn't the best boss, Shirou again concluded. At least his salary was still pretty good, even after the amount she took off.

After the Director's anger settled down, Roman was able to explain matters to the Servant. About Chaldea, its purpose, and its current state.

"…Another worrisome part is that we discovered CHALDEAS, our tool for observing the future of humanity, is now glowing red," Roman explained to the silent Caster, who was listening intensely. "We are still trying to determine what that means—"

"Glowing red? **Glowing Red?!** " Olga exploded. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this, Romani? This is the sort of thing that you should have informed me of at the first opportunity!"

"Sorry!" Roman squealed. "But you were concerned about the personnel losses last time so we just forgot to—"

"No excuses Romani!" Olga shouted as she glared at the doctor. "Your failure to inform me of this matter is worth your employment!"

"I'm sorry," he yelled again, sweat beading on his forehead. "We haven't had the personnel to track down the error yet so…"

"U-Um," Mash spoke up, drawing the director's glare to herself. She seemed to shrink a bit before recollecting herself. "When senpai and I Rayshifted to here, there was an announcement through the speakers. I don't really remember it but—"

Mash glanced aside to Ritsuka who blinked before pounding his fist into his palm in remembrance.

"Oh, I remember. It was something about something having changed and being unable to detect human survival?" he trailed, brow furrowed as he dug at the memory. "Also, CHALDEA turned red right before that."

"And rewriting SHEBA's near future prediction date," Mash added in. "I recall that much but after that, things were getting pretty faint…"

Olga tsked. "Well, that was somewhat helpful at least."

No need to be rude but the director was a magus so she probably did it automatically.

"Alright, I'll take a look at SHEBA and CHALDEA when I get back," Olga sighed before she started to mutter to herself. "I can't trust Romani to do it right anyways. But what changed? Was it the loss of Chaldean staff? Was Chaldea depending on our intervention in its calculations?"

Roman winced but didn't argue back.

"And that is the current situation in Chaldea," he said instead. "Currently, Ritsuka there is the acting Mater and in the middle of conducting field research."

Roman leaned forward. "Let me confirm something. You're a Servant from the Holy Grail War that broke out in this city and the sole survivor?"

Caster nodded, annoyed and frustrated. "If by that, you mean I haven't lost. Saber had just been accidentally summoned by your boy over there and my Master told me to retreat. Then everything … changed."

Shirou frowned and asked, "What do you mean everything changed?"

Caster shrugged. "The Grail War changed. I don't know how it happened, but the city was engulfed in flames, and every human vanished, including my Master and Saber's. Only the Servants remained."

"Did the other Servants go through a class change or were new Servants summoned as well?" Shirou asked, frowning. "I don't remember Lancer or Assassin being those Servants. Actually, I recall you being Lancer."

"Look, kid," Caster's face flashed annoyance. "I would be the first to happily go through a class change into Lancer but even when we fought, I was still a Caster. I know I rapped you on the head a bit before you summoned Saber but if you are from the future, you should at least remember me using a staff, not a spear."

Shirou frowned. "That's impossible. You ran me through with Gae Bolg twice during the war. You never had a staff."

Caster raised his eyebrows at that. "I must have hit ya too hard on the head with my staff when you tried to fight back with that reinforced newspaper. After you stopped running, I figured that you deserved an honorable fight before I killed ya. Even told you so myself."

Shirou glanced aside to Roman. "This can't be the past. I faced Lancer three times and each time, he used his spear and only his spear."

"And I only faced you twice, once before I knew you were a magus and the second was before you summoned Saber," Caster shot back.

"Are you saying that the distortion value of the Singularity is such that it no longer corresponds to history?" Olga broke in.

Shirou and Caster turned to look at her before looking back to each other.

"That might be the case," Caster agreed with a shrug.

"It is either that or you suffered brain damage," Shirou shot back.

" _I_ didn't get hit on the head like an idiot," Caster grinned at his own riposte.

Shirou's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to rejoinder-

"Enough!" Olga stalked forward, shoving Caster. Caster grinned at the attempt to budge him before he stepped back on his own, causing Olga to stumble in her heels before she caught herself and placed her hands on her hips. "I am not interested in your primitive caveman fight on who beat who! Just tell me what happened so that I can find the source of the Singularity!"

"Yes ma'am," Shirou and Caster muttered as one.

Ritsuka bit his tongue to hold back a laugh.

The two were acting tough but folded under the catty director.

"Well, after the fire and everyone vanishing, we stopped fighting. Then Saber went on a rampage and immediately went after Archer who had retreated to his Master's house," Caster recalled.

"She beat the jerk who blew up the place," he threw a smile at Shirou for some reason. "And then immediately went after Lancer, Rider, and Berserker. Beat them all, one by one, and even beat Assassin when he ambushed her after she defeated Berserker."

"And any Servant she defeated became like these two," Caster waved his staff towards where Lancer and Assassin had once stood. "Corrupted by the black mud."

"I guess that since she is not going after you that Berserker wore her out?" Shirou asked.

"Yeah," Caster winced. "I have seen a lot of things but those two fighting in the forest… I hope you didn't have any property in there because she had to use her Noble Phantasm a lot."

The group turned towards the western forest that was on fire. Roman pulled up the bird's eye view and winced at the series of lines crisscrossing the forest, scoured clean of everything.

"I'm surprised she beat him on her own," Shirou muttered. "Berserker had 12 lives and each time you kill him, he gains an immunity to it. You have to hit him so hard that his Spirit Core is nearly obliterated and can't repair itself without wearing itself out."

Or so Illya had explained to Rin after the Grail War was over. Turned out that Berserker's Spirit Core had tried to reject Caliburn when it was rammed through the heart. Only for Berserker to be deemed unworthy so Caliburn had refused to be cast out by Heracles. So Caliburn rejected Godhand's regeneration trying to cast it out and inflicted another round of damage on Hercacles only for the same cycle to repeat until his final death.

Only the luck that both he and Saber had been so out of it that they hadn't withdrawn the Golden Sword of Compelled Victory right away had won them that fight.

Ironic really. Any combat experienced swordsman knew better than to leave their weapon in an opponent's body.

Except for Shirou. He could leave dozens of swords around the place as he was never truly disarmed until he ran out of Od.

Caster whistled. "12 lives? Wish I could have been there. That guy was seriously tough to fight even without dying once. Took my Master's Noble Phantasm to the chest without flinching."

"Aren't Berserkers expensive to maintain?" Mash asked. "Usually their madness is to compensate for their lack of power…"

She trailed off as Shirou shook his head.

"Berserker was Heracles," he solemnly informed them. "And he was summoned as Berserker to improve his already high power."

Silence reigned in both Chaldea and in Fuyuki.

"Heracles!" Olga shrieked.

Roman's cup of coffee dropped to the ground, spilling its contents as he gaped at the reveal.

Mash's eye widened and her mouth dropped.

Ritsuka looked around at all the reactions. He recognized that name but why was everyone acting like it was the end of the world?

Caster winced as he muttered, "Yeesh, no wonder he was so tough. That little lady must be a stupendous Master if she was able to support that beast of a Servant."

"You met Illya?" burst out of Shirou's mouth before he could apply a filter.

"Oh," Caster's eyes narrowed on hologram. "Ya familiar with the little miss? Did ya take her captive?"

"How are we supposed to defeat HERACLES of all Servants?" Olga demanded. "And as Berserker none the less!? Why would anyone even do that? How could any Master even support him without dying!?"

"I didn't," Shirou said as he held back the urge to squirm. "I only took her home after we killed Berserker."

"So your tastes run towards that type of girl huh?" Caster mused, ignoring Shirou's addendum.

"What?" Shirou sputtered at the accusation. "No, no way! She's my _sister_! That's disgusting!"

He couldn't deny that Illya had a hint at being a beauty when she grew up if she hadn't died so young… But she was still his _sister_!

"And why didn't anyone mention this earlier?" Olga screamed.

"Don't worry, the girl looked like she would grow up to be a beauty," Caster either teased or reassured Shirou. The situation was chaotic enough, no one could tell which. "Adopting her into your family wasn't necessary before bedding her in my day but I suppose that the times have changed."

"No, my dad was her father before he adopted me," Shirou protested, blushing red at the accusation. "I am in love with Saber anyways!"

"And the only other Servant left alive is Saber, who somehow beat that monster!" Olga yelled before stopping for breath.

"Heracles," Mash faintly muttered. "The greatest hero of Greek mythology. He who overcame the Twelve Labors."

"Oh, so a lady's man, eh?" Caster grinned. "Tough, interesting to fight, got a bit of a mouth on ya, I knew that I liked ya, laddy."

Shirou looked repulsed at the statement.

Caster's face turned sour. "Not like that! I'm straight. Why does your culture even…"

Caster broke off, shaking his head.

"Try to say that you would have extended an invitation to the Ulster Knights if he had been alive back then and nowadays you get—Ugh," Caster muttered.

"Wait a second here," Roman broke in after retrieving his cup from the floor. "Are you saying that all the Servants we have faced so far were already defeated by Saber?"

"The survival of the Seven Servants," Olga realized. "That rule of the Holy Grail War was broken here."

"Yes," Caster agreed. "The dead Servants and the monsters that sprung up like maggots after Saber started her rampage have been seeking something together. The troublesome part is that I'm one of the things they're looking for."

"The Holy Grail War won't end until either you or Saber are killed," Shirou quietly said.

"So if you defeat Saber while Saber is still recovering—" Roman said, excited.

"Yeah, that should end the Holy Grail War here," Caster agreed. "I don't know if things would return to normal though."

"I see," the director of Chaldea nodded, pretending that her break-down over Berserker had never happened. "I see. You helped us, but in the end, it was for your own sake, huh? You want to defeat Saber, but don't stand a chance doing it alone. That's why you zeroed in on us…Right?"

Olga cast an accusing glance at Caster, who looked a little sheepish for his ulterior motive being revealed.

"That's right," he agreed. "It's not a bad deal, is it?"

"Except for the part about, I don't know, HERACLES AS BERSERKER UNDER HER CONTROL!" She screamed. "Who even _is_ Saber anyways?"

"Yeesh, you got a pair of lungs on ya," Caster poked a finger into his ears and wiggled it around. "Ya might want to stop yelling. It draws attention."

"GUOOOH!"

"Like from that pack of skeletons there," Caster pointed out the incoming bunch of skeletons that had managed to approach close while Chaldea had been distracted over the discovery of Heracles as Berserker.

"Yikes!" Olga scampered behind Mash.

"Yikes!" Roman yelped as he returned to paying attention to his monitors.

Their yells managed to break the trance that was consuming the attention of the staff of Chaldea.

Except for Shirou who was too busy watching both his graphs and the images of the Rayshift to notice the end of the sudden freeze of the magus members of Chaldea's staff.

"There's no end to these guys," Caster sighed in annoyance before brightening up. "Man, I'm tellin' ya, there's nothin' better than having allies!"

* * *

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

The fight was brief.

Even with her wounds, Mash would've been able to handle the pack of skeletons alone. With Caster's ranged spells, the fight was even easier as Caster incinerated the Skeletons that weren't charging her.

Mash blocked the last arrow fired by the last skeleton archer who had just been turned into bonfire before she lowered her shield.

She scanned over the battlefield, her habits developed in Chaldea's training simulators with A-Team taking over. There was no movement other than the smoke floating higher into the sky or the buildings that were on fire.

Also, she didn't feel any hints of magical pressure upon her skin, indicating that there wasn't any spell or hostile animated by magic nearby.

Well, she could feel Caster's power behind and to the left of her and she could feel her Master's magical energy flowing into her from behind her and Olga's much more subtle magical force from between the two, but they weren't hostiles.

They were her allies, and in the case of Ritsuka and Olga, maybe even her friends?

Mash didn't know. She had had friends among the Masters and the members of Chaldea but they were magi or had the same air of being willing to sacrifice anything to achieve their goals, no matter the cost.

It was for that reason that Ritsuka was so wonderful. He didn't have the air that if you got in his way, he would cut you down without regret.

Well, some of the magi would regret cutting her down if she got in their way, but they would still do it. Depending on the individual, they might even bury her under the open sky instead of tossing her corpse into the incinerator or onto the dissection table.

But Ritsuka wasn't like that. He felt like a human and in a world buried beneath the Antarctic snow and ice, full of ruthless researchers and idealists that would let nothing stop them, he was someone to be treasured.

Why, Mash could never have even imagined that new game, charades. It would have made her life much more interesting all those years before.

But finishing her surveillance using all of her senses, Mash relaxed. Nothing was in range.

"Hostiles defeated," Mash reported before sighing and letting herself lean on her shield, adjusting the stance to support her weight without even thinking about it.

She sighed, feeling the adrenaline rush die down. She was tired. She could still go on, the simulation training was more rigorous than this, but it didn't change the fact that her arm hurt and her thigh was throbbing in time with her heartbeat. Not to mention the light exhaustion covering her from head to foot.

She was glad that she had Servant level abilities and endurance. If she didn't she would probably be already passed out from exhaustion, even if it would be rude. Especially in front of their ally, Caster.

"Things have settled down at last," she commented.

"Too bad," Caster frowned, annoyance written over his face. "If I'd been summoned as a Lancer, I could've finished off Saber with just one strike already. Man, Caster is just not for me."

"Um," Mash's senpai spoke up, hesitance and confusion in his voice. "What do you mean, 'if you were a Lancer'?"

"Kyrielight, come over here," Director Animusphere said, an edge of concern in her voice. "You're hurt, aren't you? I can heal small wounds like that."

Mash nodded before pushing herself off from the shield and taking it with her as she stepped over to Olga.

It would be nice to be all healed up, especially the dagger in her thigh. It hurt.

But her Master had asked a question and she didn't want to let him down.

"It's been known for a Heroic Spirit to have the attributes of multiple classes," Mash lectured with increasing energy, as she walked over to Olga Marie and let the director direct healing magecraft at her wounds. "Cu Chullain is a high-level Heroic Spirit with the qualifications to not only be a Caster but a Lancer as well. The magazine Vivian said that he could also be summoned as a Berserker, but experts disagree over the possibility of him being summoned as an Archer or a Saber. Due to the length of his legend, Setanta could be summoned at various points in his life, allowing his mentality to be more flexible and better able to match the personality of his Master. He is regarded as the supreme Heroic Spirit when in Ireland."

Mash stopped as she realized that she was excitedly babbling and that everyone was staring at her. She repressed the urge to take a step behind Olga to hide from everyone's gazes as Olga got her onto the ground to begin the treatment on the dagger in her thigh.

"Thanks for the compliment, little lady," Caster smirked a roguish smile at her. "Man, I am good."

He flexed his arm muscles as he posed in front of everyone. Mash bowed her head to hide her mortified expression, only letting out a yelp of pain when the director pulled the dagger out of her thigh.

Why did she do that?! Now Senpai was going to think she was weird! And the Japanese people didn't like it when people stood out according to the background information from FATE. What was she supposed to do if her Master and Senpai in being human didn't want anything to do with her anymore?

"Ahem," Olga coughed to clear her throat before speaking even as her hands glowed a light violet as her injuries rapidly stitched themselves up. "Regardless of a mere Servant's unimpressive ego-"

Caster smirked at her put-down but didn't stop showing off. Interestingly enough, Olga's eyes were now completely focusing on Mash but she had a slight reddish blush on her face after a quick glance at the man.

Not that Mash noticed Olga's actions. Mash was busy noting in the sanctity of her own mind that Caster did have well-defined arms and his six-pack was really nice.

"What was it that you wanted from us?" Olga asked. "You desire the end of the Holy Grail War but lack the ability to defeat either Berserker or Saber. You also lack a Master so it is difficult to maintain your existence."

"Yeah, if the magical power in the atmosphere hadn't risen, we all would have disappeared long before now," Caster agreed, as he twirled his staff around a little. "And as you are Masters of an organization, I should mention that we Servants tend not to get involved outside of our time period. Even then, we ultimately only cooperate as weapons."

Caster smiled a fierce grin as he said 'weapons'.

"But your goal is to investigate this anomaly. Mine is to put an end to the Holy Grail War. Our interests coincide, so how about we join forces?" Caster proposed, looking interested in their answer.

Mash kept quiet. She was a Servant and this was a choice for the director or the Master.

Personally, she wanted to ally with Caster. She was doing a horrible job as a Servant. She didn't even know the name of the Heroic Spirit she was merged with, she had no idea what skills or even what Noble Phantasm she had.

All she knew was that her Heroic Spirit was a lawfully good aligned Servant of the Extra Class Shielder.

And that she had a big shield that she knew how to use in combat despite never having held a shield before.

She was plainly inadequate so allying with a strong Servant like Cu Chulainn would mean that they could probably win.

But with Heracles as Berserker…

Mash was scared.

"That is a rational proposition," Olga Marie agreed, the light dying from her hands once the holes in Mash were gone. The director stood up as she turned to face the independent Servant. "But if we do that, who will be your Master?"

Caster blinked. "Well that kid there, of course."

He waved at Ritsuka who looked startled at becoming involved in the conversation, before Caster returned his focus to the director.

"But it doesn't seem like you have the aptitude to be a Master," he said as he leaned in closer to Olga, examining her more closely, much to her embarrassment. "I mean, you possess high quality magical circuits, yet you don't have the aptitude to be a Master. Is it a curse?"

Olga flushed red as she snapped out "Oh shut up! What do you care?"

She took a deep breath before imposing a mask of calm over her face as she turned to Ritsuka. "Ritsuka, he's in your hands. Use him wisely."

Ritsuka looked back and forth between the two, confusion again settling into his face.

As she got up, Mash thought that her senpai was wearing that expression way too much. He really needed to know more than he did.

Caster sped over to Ritsuka in a burst of Servant level speed before slinging an arm around his shoulders, grin stretching across his face. "Then it's settled. The contract is only temporary, but I'm counting on ya."

He opened his eyes, grin fading into a smile. "That leaves one last thing, your goal. What you're looking for is probably the Greater Grail."

"Greater Grail?" The hologram of Roman, with a smaller image of the survivor of the Fifth Grail War down in a corner who had just sat down after standing up after hearing of Saber's Noble Phantasm and was currently muted, spoke up. "I'm not familiar with that. What is it?"

Roman's eyes flickered from the screen to somewhere off-screen. Probably directly at Mr. Emiya.

Mr. Emiya's blue image made of blue pixels floating mid-air took on a tinge of embarrassment as one hand brushed the back of his head.

Caster answered the question. "This land's true 'heart'. If there is indeed a, what-ya-ma-call-it, 'Singularity', it has to be involved in that. The problem is Saber is lingering around the Greater Grail. The remaining Servant she contaminated, too."

"Wait," Olga asked, face turning a shade pale. "You mean Berserker is there?"

She looked ready to call off the alliance. Mash almost hoped she would.

She stood no chance against The Hero of Greece. If this was Ireland, then maybe Cu Chulainn could beat him but it wasn't. This was Japan.

"Well, Berserker won't attack unless you get close to him and he tend to linger around the forest to the east. If we don't get close to him, then we could avoid fighting him altogether," Caster said brightly.

Mash figured that he was excited to actually have a chance to end this abnormal Grail War. But she was too busy feeling relieved at not having to face Heracles of all Servants.

"Archer will be a problem though," Caster frowned. "But now that I know his True Name, I am pretty sure I can deal with him. It might be tricky though, especially if he fights alongside Saber."

He grimaced. "If I was a Lancer, I would be all for it, but I'm Caster. If we end up fighting them both together, it might turn out harder than I hope."

He smiled again. "But it should be an awesome fight!"

"Shirou," Roman asked, the hologram splitting in half to allow Mr. Emiya's image to expand into the space. "What do you think?"

"Well, I don't know Archer's strength very well-"

Caster snorted. The image of Mr. Emiya glared at him for a moment before continuing on. "But if Caster is confident that you can win, I would say it is worth a try."

He paused, thinking a bit. "Kick that jerk's butt for me, will you?"

Caster guffawed at that.

"Well then," Olga said, clapping her hands together. "Let's get moving, shall we? Time is a limited resource and we don't know how long it will take to analyze and remove the threat."

"So, where is it?" Ritsuka asked, head turning around to view the surrounding sides of the city. The bridge allowed them to choose whether to go back among the skyscrapers on one side or the spread-out residential homes on the other side.

"It is somewhere on Mt. Ryuudou," Shirou imparted from his chair in Chaldea. "I don't know much more than that. The day that we were to meet up and start dismantling the Greater Grail, a friend got a little feverish so I put her up in a guest bedroom. But it must have been really contagious as I caught it right away and I collapsed in my house's entryway. By the time I recovered consciousness a few days, the Second Owner was sitting next me to and told me to rest up. She said that my friend was healthier than ever but her grandfather had died trying to take the grail for his own. By the time Rin thought I was recovered enough to use magecraft again, the Grail was already dismantled."

Mash's eyes widened while Olga's twitched.

One of the background information that A-team had been told of was that Zouken Matou had been determined to protect the Holy Grail. He had fought the entire team of magus who had come to disassemble the Grail by himself until a magus from the Clock Tower had invoked a Mystery that directly targeted and destroyed his soul.

Matou was a threat that the entire A-Team had trained to oppose. They even had a few Mystic Codes which been prepared to fight his familiars and a Mystic Code had been built for the sole purpose of directly attacking the soul so that they could put Matou down if he tried to interfere.

None of which they now had as it had all been with the other members of A-Team but they didn't need them if Zouken Matou wasn't around anymore.

But if Shirou Emiya had survived Matou's assault, in particular an early assault meant to drain the most troublesome opponents of power so that Matou could use their strength against the others, it meant that Shirou must have been really lucky to survive a surprise attack from the most experienced magus in Fuyuki, or he was just really tough to take down.

And judging by Shirou's and Caster's banter from earlier, Shirou had survived a direct fight against a Servant. Which was enough of an indication that he was tough.

Or he just had a long run of very, _very_ , good luck.

"Dismantled, huh?" Caster mused. He obviously didn't know enough about Matou to read between the lines of Shirou's story. "Welp, this might be the best opportunity I've got to see the thing myself. Follow me, and don't make too much noise."

He glanced over to Olga Marie with a smirk on his face. "Wouldn't want to attract Berserker, now would ya?"

Olga flushed at the mention of her screaming attracting the earlier pack of skeletons.

"Thank you, Mr. Caster," Roman bowed to the hologram.

"Skip the 'Mister'," Caster shot back. "I said I'll take you there but the kid here-"

He slapped Ritsuka on the back, the strength behind it forcing the boy to buckle over.

"-will decide when to make our move."

"Much obliged," Roman bowed again before his hologram stared Ritsuka in the eyes. "Then shall we resume the search? I'm counting on you, Ritsuka."

"Right," Ritsuka nodded back, one hand rubbing where Caster had slapped him.

"But first," Caster interrupted. "Let's formally finish the contract. I could use another source of energy, ya know."

* * *

After the ritual, where Mash and Caster walked Ritsuka through the words and actions to bind a Servant to his Command Seals, the group of four set out across the bridge, heading towards the mountain.

Leaving Ritsuka to wonder about what his life had become.

He had been forcibly recruited to a top-secret magic organization based in Antarctica of all places. He had gotten caught up in some form of time travel. And now he was in a war between mythological figures, each of whom could kill him without blinking.

He stumbled on some rubble, wincing as the impact of his toe on the stone reverberated in his foot.

But worse of all, it hurt.

And if it hurt, then he could not be in a dream.

So much for his hope that he would soon be waking up in his bed thinking, _Man, what an awesome dream!_

This was not a dream.

This was real.

His eyes flickered between the pink-haired girl walking in front of him and the blue robed mage.

Both of whom were his only defense against beings like Lancer or Assassin.

But Mash was-

Well, she was a girl, but having a female twin that had been better at karate when they were kids meant that Ritsuka wasn't laboring under any delusion that girls were weaker than boys.

But he had seen Mash, dying, under a ton of rock just earlier today. He remembered smelling the smoke from the fires and seeing the blood pooling around Mash.

How could she just be okay?

He hoped it was magic.

Otherwise they were all doomed.

He shook his head.

He couldn't afford to think like that.

He was Mash's and Caster's Master now. He was some form of magical object thing/person that kept the two alive while acting like their cheerleader and analyst.

Except he didn't know how to analyze so all he really could do was keep morale up.

He couldn't fight. He didn't know magic beyond how to open his magic circuits which the recruiter had done on their flight over.

But all that meant is that he now had magical energy-

-and no spells to use it on.

And since this wasn't a story or movie, he couldn't count on suddenly learning a spell at the last second that instantly blasted an enemy into defeat. He wasn't some protagonist or prophesied one.

He was just Ritsuka, a high school graduate and college applicant that was almost drafted into Chaldea.

But with Olga as high strung as she was and Mash being too serious-

Maybe he could work on keeping everyone's spirits high?

Ritsuka nodded.

Right, he could do that.

He hoped.

But at least it would be better than doing nothing.

Right?

* * *

 _Antarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

Shirou wondered what his life had become.

He was looking at a replay of the Holy Grail War. Only this time, it included the fires that he recalled from his youth.

But it wasn't quite the same.

Lancer was now Caster and there was a brand-new Assassin and Lancer in town.

And instead of saving people or fighting alongside Saber, all he could do now was look at graphs and read a manual.

Meanwhile, his Saber was running around and being framed as a villain.

Shirou did not, could not believe Lancer to be right.

Saber was-

She was not the type of person who could do that!

Sure, she didn't let anyone see her emotions and only let her feelings show in private but she would never do anything evil!

Shirou didn't sigh but he did think to himself that this was not what he wanted.

He wanted to help people, he wanted to _save_ people, and he wanted to see Saber again.

But if wishes were granted, Shirou nor his father would never have seen the things that they had seen, the atrocities committed, and their family members die.

Life was unfair like that.

But that was what made ideals like Saber's and Dad's so valuable, so precious.

Shirou shifted in his seat as he read another line in the manual.

He hadn't gone to the bathroom since very early this morning and it was now past lunchtime.

And his bladder was letting him know that.

Hunger was the enemy as Saber liked to say, but sometimes the bladder was too.

Shirou contemplated doing his duty of watching the charts versus removing the distraction.

His stomach growled at him and influenced his decision.

He turned around and addressed Roman.

"Hey, would it be okay if I took a short break?"

* * *

As the door closed behind Shirou, Roman turned to Tom.

"Tom, can you pay extra attention to the graph lines? I'll pull them up too but I also have to keep an eye on everything else."

If a Rayshift goes wrong, people's spirits could get erased or corrupted. If close attention wasn't paid to a person's information, then subtle things could be distorted. Or worse, a person could get lost in the past and their spirit never return to their body in the present.

For that and other reasons, Chaldea's policy was to always have two people looking over any part of a team's vital statistics.

Tom nodded curtly, anger settled into his jaw but accepting of the order.

Roman wished he knew what had happened to Tom's friend who died in the Fifth Grail War but he didn't. He had just started working as a doctor in Chaldea when the Fifth Grail War happened so he wasn't privy to any of the leadership meetings or after-reports on the Fifth Grail War.

He also wished that he didn't have a screen open and watching Shirou as he headed towards the restroom but he had to.

The First Order and the entire survival of humanity was important enough that he couldn't act on a suspicion of a possible opponent.

Even if he didn't think that Shirou was the saboteur. Which was why he had half a dozen screens open on everyone who was not in the Command Center with him right now.

But Roman had his charge to protect the human race and if watching everyone that might possibly be the demon that bombed Chaldea, or that might be under its influence, was the cost-

-then he would do it.

He would make sure that no traitor in Chaldea could kill Mash, Ritsuka, and Marisbury's daughter.

Even if it meant betraying the confidence of his workers, spying on them, and even killing the traitor by his own bare hands if necessary.

Humanity was hanging in the balance.

Failure was not acceptable.

* * *

 **Well, I originally intended for this chapter to cover more material, but this was getting long. And the next segment will probably better serve as a bit of a breather and humor episode before we dive back into the thick of things.**

 **But first, a bit of backstory that won't be discussed again.**

 **What happened in the dismantling of the Greater Grail was that Rin managed to eventually get enough of the Clocktower agree to take down the Greater Grail. The Animusphere family was supporting her endeavor from behind the scene. Zouken Matou, however opposed but eventually his only choice left was to fight and beat the Association off.**

 **So Zouken preemptively attacked Shirou by means of Sakura while he set up his preparations of defending the Greater Grail. Zouken knew he couldn't win against a larger force if he also has to defend against Noble Phantasms. Especially as he knows Shirou has a small variety from Gate of Babylon and Zouken doesn't know which ones or what they can do. Very possible that the wrong Noble Phantasm could kill him if he confronted Shirou directly.** **And Zouken doesn't like to take risks like that unless the payoff is worth it.**

 **So Zouken offered Sakura a Mystic Code that would force Shirou into a temporary coma and mentioned that if she didn't use it against Shirou, then he would just have to kill the boy himself. Sakura agreed but Zouken didn't provide the Mystic Code for free. He forced her into an agreement that she would fight against the other magi if he loaned her the Mystic Code. As the Mystic Code and devil's bargain was the only way to keep Shirou safe from Zouken, Sakura agreed. So when she arrived at Shirou's place, she used the Mystic Code against Shirou and then extensively drained his Od so that he couldn't wake up early and rush to the side of the other magi to fight against Zouken.**

 **But, unfortunately for Sakura, Rin dropped by to pick up Shirou and ran into Sakura leaving Shirou's home. The two then fought and Rin won. She then raced over to help the team which was struggling to hold off Zouken's spells and familiars. After a pitched battle on the mountain and in the cave, Rin's allies won and Zouken died from another magus's attack directly on his soul.**

 **When Rin came back to check on Shirou, she found Sakura nearly dead from the backlash of Zouken's death but fortunately Rin had been storing a large amount of her od in a new gem and used it all to restore Sakura back to life. Sakura recovered before Shirou and begged Rin to keep what happened secret from Shirou as she didn't want him to hate her. Rin eventually caved in and agreed. Which is why she lied to Shirou and everyone else about what happened, keeping the truth to just between Sakura and herself.**

 **Just telling you as Chaldea has no interest in finding out the truth of this matter so it would never be brought up in this story. They and Shirou think they already know the truth, so why look it up?**


	12. Checklist11If You Don't Know then Learn!

**Author's Notes:**

 **Leave it to writing a fanfiction story for a game that you haven't finished to make your story inaccurate. How was I supposed to know about the Fire of Prometheus? They didn't mention it until the 7** **th** **Singularity!**

 **(Grumble. Now I just have to figure out to weave it into the story. Along with everything else in Solomon's Singularity.)**

 **And I can't promise timely arrival for next month. I wrote over half of this chapter in November only to be unprepared for the release of two Singularities in North America's Fate Grand Order game.**

* * *

 **Checklist Item 11: If You Don't Know How to Do it, then Learn!**

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

"Hey, Ritsuka."

After ransacking an abandoned convenience store for some drinking water and snacks, the group had taken a quick water break after Caster had found some water for everyone to drink, the group had left the bridge and was now walking down the main road to the mountain ahead.

The break had done some good. Namely, it had let them (mostly Olga) calm down from the panic of discovering that Heracles was an enemy Servant.

Caster was leading, since he was the one who best knew the way. Mash followed behind, with Olga walking beside her and Ritsuka took up the rear as he was the only one who had no combat ability.

But now, Olga, relaxed and composed, spoke up softly from beside Ritsuka who she had just dropped back to talk to.

"It's pretty obvious that Kyrielight's looking depressed," she said.

Really?

Ritsuka craned his head to get a better perspective on Mash's perspective. He couldn't see much but Mash's head was down, without any of the eagerness in looking around like she had been since she had woken him up in this flame covered world.

"You are her Master, aren't you?" Olga continued. "Do something to cheer her up!"

Ritsuka stumbled as she pushed him forward. As he regained his balance, he glanced back at the director, looking slightly irritated and mostly worried, before he ran to catch up to the younger woman.

Mash, heard him approach and turned to face him, face slightly puzzled.

"Um," he started before deciding to just take the jump. "Mash, is something wrong?"

Mash's face blushed in embarrassment as she waved her free hand in the air. "No! There's nothing different. I'm operating perfectly, Master!"

She hesitated, her face falling again. "But that is the problem, nothing's different…"

She fell silent for a moment, the two walking in silence, before she continued. "Um, under your command Senpai, I have gained enough experience… And yet… I'm still unable to unleash my Noble Phantasm. I don't even know how to unleash it, I'm like a defective Servant."

While Mash was worrying about not having a Noble Phantasm, Ritsuka didn't even know what a Noble Phantasm was.

Wait, hadn't Mash explained it earlier as a hero's secret weapon? Like Excalibur for King Arthur?

But that wouldn't be a secret weapon, right? He means, everyone knows that King Arthur wielded Excalibur. So it wouldn't be that secret of a secret weapon.

But that line of thought wouldn't encourage Mash, would it? Not with her not knowing what her secret weapon was.

Fou, who had been running up next to Mash on the ground, briefly rubbed against Mash's leg like an affectionate cat, softly calling out, "Fou."

Only the beep of the comm starting up warned them of the sudden appearance of Roman's hologram.

"Oh, so that's what's been bothering you," Roman said, shaking his head. "You have such a strong sense of responsibility, Mash. But I don't think that can be settled overnight. After all, it's a Noble Phantasm. If a Heroic Spirit's secret weapon could be mastered within a day or two, then Servants wouldn't be that special anymore."

* * *

Shirou sneezed as he finished drying his hands and brushing his teeth after eating his lunch.

Great. Now people were talking about him. With him needing to find the demon in Chaldea, fix everything damaged while alone as all of his coworkers were dead, and finding a way to prove Arturia's innocence, Shirou had his hands full without worrying about what people were saying about him behind his back.

But to Shirou, their opinions didn't really matter. Not compared to saving their lives.

It was days like these that made him wish that he could project Avalon or Caliburn to hold while he remembered Saber. It helped her stay important to him. He needed to remember the love he had for her if he wanted to search endlessly. And her weapons were a good symbol for her, reminding him of the time they had together.

But he couldn't project them. Avalon had gone back to the past with Arturia and despite his affinity and long experience with it, he couldn't find a copy of it inside his Reality Marble. Echoes and traces, yes, but not Avalon itself.

And while he did still have a copy of her Caliburn, he really couldn't justify pulling out a Noble Phantasm, even if it was Arturia's favored sword. Not when he might need every bit of prana in a fight against an unknown demon who could strike again at any given moment.

Even if projecting it wouldn't be as expensive as it used to cost his Od, causing a Noble Phantasm to appear in Chaldea would alarm everyone.

No one sensitive to mana could possibly miss a Noble Phantasm coming into existence.

And everyone here was tense and on pricks and needles. Feeling a massive clump of energy or a Noble Phantasm's powerful smell sudden pop into existence would frighten anyone.

Shirou knew from experience what a scared magus would do if they felt a Noble Phantasm appear.

They attacked first. Sometimes they ran, but most magi got either greedy and tried to take it for themselves or scared and tried to kill him before he could kill them.

He figured that the next steps that the magus would have taken would be to overwhelm, capture, and analyze but whenever he used a Noble Phantasm, no one had ever gotten past the attack phase of their reaction before.

Noble Phantasms were unfairly powerful like that.

* * *

"Of course we can master something like that immediately," Caster butted into the conversation.

Ritsuka winced. Not to offend or anything, but Caster really didn't understand how to comfort Mash, did he?

But Caster wasn't done speaking.

"After all, Heroic Spirits and Noble Phantasms are the same thing. If the young lady here can fight as a Servant, that means that she can use her Noble Phantasm," Caster gestured to Mash, before pausing, a look of contemplation on his features. "And yet you can't, which simply means your magical energy is not circulating right."

He continued walking forward, staff tapping the ground as he deliberated with himself. "Let's see, maybe enthusiasm? No, perhaps too reserved?"

He shook his head. "Nah. Anyway, I'm sure it's because you just don't yell out when you practice."

Ritsuka blinked. That had to be a joke.

Yelling affecting a Noble Phantasm? Was this an anime or something?

Maybe it was magic? Ritsuka knew nothing but this was stretching the bounds of credulity.

"Really?" Mash yelled before clearing her throat and really shouting it out. "R-E-A-L-L-Y!?"

"Faaaaaaa?" Fou yelped as he jumped two feet into the air. Ritsuka winced as he rubbed his ears.

So Mash wouldn't recognize a joke if it bit her on the nose. She was a bit odd.

"Hey, don't yell all of a sudden!" Olga yelled from behind them. "You're going to burst my eardrums, seriously!"

"Sorry Director," Mash apologized as she turned around. "But Caster said we should shout…"

"No, that was a metaphor," Caster protested as Olga glared at him. He coughed in a transparent attempt to change the topic from his bad joke. "Well, at any rate, I see you have the enthusiasm."

Olga glare didn't weaken.

"Welp, you heard the young lady," Caster ignored Olga as he turned to Ritsuka. "Do you mind if we take a quick detour?"

"Detour?" Olga asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "What kind of detour?"

* * *

"For the first part of your special training, we will start off small."

Caster walked back and forth, staff clicking against the ash covered grounds of Homurahara Academy.

Mr. Shirou Emiya had recommended that they use the archery range here but it had burned down in the fires blazing in other parts of the city. Only ashes remained. Only the fact that Mr. Emiya knew where the wooden archery range should be let them know where the ashes covering the school grounds had came from.

So they were just using the dusty field outside for Mash's training.

Well, Mash and Caster were with Olga looking on. Ritsuka had volunteered to look for food inside the academy with the help of Mr. Emiya.

Mr. Emiya had graduated from the school and would know where the cafeteria was. He also knew where one of his teachers kept her stash of snacks, so he had been leading Mash's Master towards the likely locations for food.

Or he had been. Just a few moments ago, Olga's comm had beeped and spit out a hologram of Mr. Emiya. From what Mash could hear, Ritsuka had just found a few packets of bread still in their plastic wrap. So while her Senpai packed it up into an unburned bag that he had found, Mr. Emiya was going to watch the training and see if he could help Mash in any way.

He had seen every Servant's Noble Phantasm in the Fifth Grail War with the exception of Archer. He also had received some training from Saber and had helped her use a Noble Phantasm against both Berserker and the Fourth War's Archer.

Which meant that he had more experience with Noble Phantasms than everyone else in Chaldea combined if you excluded Da Vinci, who was right now in the middle of something so delicate that an interruption was likely to be catastrophic.

Mash _needed_ to be able to use her Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm. Saber was standing against them and she had defeated _Heracles_!

Only the fact that Saber had been badly weakened from fighting Berserker and had barely killed Assassin after that made Mash, Olga, Caster and Roman think that they could defeat Saber if they moved fast.

Mash knew she needed to call out the True Name to unleash the full power of the Noble Phantasm, but it had been proven that calling the name was not necessary to use a Noble Phantasm. It would be weaker without the True Name but the True Name was not needed to activate it.

It probably wouldn't be nearly good enough to take down Saber, but without it and with only Caster, who was at a disadvantage thanks to the Saber Class's Magic Resistance class skill, they were doomed to lose.

With her unknown Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm, the possibility of victory might not be zero, depending on the Noble Phantasm. But knowing if it would be good enough would allow her Master and the Director to decide whether or not to press on and fight Saber or to retreat and wait for additional help.

And Mash was determined to not fail. Olga needed her to succeed.

For the sake of Chaldea and the sake of humanity's future.

"I've inscribed some misfortune-bringing runes on this field. I remember them from my own training so they should work," Caster continued, gesturing towards the field, which had a big glowing rune in the middle of it.

Mash gulped.

Cu Chulainn's training. Cu Chulainn who was trained by none other than the Queen of the Land of Shadows, Lady Scathach herself.

A person so strong that she had ascended into immortality, killed gods and multitudes of phantasmals, and trained the strongest warriors of Ireland.

And this was going to be how she learned to use a Noble Phantasm.

She was so excited!

"So what will I will learn?" she asked in eagerness.

"Well, your problem with you and your Noble Phantasm is that you think too much. A Noble Phantasm is part of a Heroic Spirit's instinct. So we have to get you to use up all of your energy," Cu Chulainn nodded with a pleased grin.

Mash goggled at him.

This was going to help her use the Noble Phantasm!

But-

But- But-

But weren't Noble Phantasms expensive to operate!? How was she supposed to use one if she was out of energy!

"But!" she protested, gesturing with her shield. "How will that help me use a Noble Phantasm? If I don't know how to use one already, how will my instinct know either?"

Caster scowled.

"You already know how," he scolded. "You just need to let your instinct take over."

"But-!"

The clanking of bony feet from the gate to the school interrupted her protest, causing Mash to swing her shield towards the sole entrance to the school.

"The runes should keep a nice steady flow of enemies coming while making it difficult for anyone trying to leave the school," Caster helpfully added. "You will be tired after defeating them all by yourself. Have fun!"

Mash gritted her teeth. If she let even a single one of them slip by her and into the school, the skeleton would kill her Master.

She couldn't allow that.

Left with no choice, she let loose a battle-cry, making sure to yell as loud as she could in accordance to Caster's earlier advice before charging the screaming horde of skeletons as they rushed towards her.

This was not what she had been expecting her training to be like!

* * *

 _Antarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

Shirou watched the training session from the screen connecting to Olga's comm. The main glass window had three images projected onto it.

One of Ritsuka discovering that he couldn't refill the plastic water bottles at the water fountains as the pipes weren't working. One of the general map of Fuyuki, flames, scars, leylines, and all. And the last screen was from Olga's perspective of Mash's training

Mash was visibly better than when he had first seen her fight. Her technique was good, not high quality but every blow she made was slightly better than her last.

But it was wrong for her. Her mentality fit but her fighting style was suited to a man. He could see her making small changes to adjust to her frame but she was merely good, not Servant level good.

The most obvious flaw was her footwork. It was still too large, like it was meant for someone taller and wearing heavier armor or just plain weighed more.

But Mash wasn't fixing that. She might not even know to fix it unless a teacher pointed it out to her. Probably was second nature to her Heroic Spirit so Mash wouldn't deviate it from it without a reason to.

So in Shirou's imagination of an one-on-one fight of Saber against Mash, Saber would easily win without even dismissing Burst Air to reveal Excalibur.

If he could see Mash's mistakes in her knight style of combat, then Saber would rip through them.

If Saber was Arturia.

Shirou still couldn't believe that Saber was the reason for the Singularity. It had to be someone else. Saber had wanted the grail, yes, but not to the extent that she would take advantage of a disaster like this!

When Kirei had offered the Grail if she would betray him, she had turned him down. Saber would never break her oaths as a knight to harm the innocent.

"So do you think this will work?" Olga asked out of the blue.

Shirou blinked. Who was she talking to?

"Emiya, do you think this will work?" Olga repeated with frustration in her voice.

"It might," Shirou shrugged. "Noble Phantasms are instinctual to the Servant. But it might depend on training or what kind of Noble Phantasm Mash has. If she has an offensive or defensive combat Noble Phantasm, then fighting like this might cause her to pull them out. But if she has a Noble Phantasm that is suited to something different then this training would probably be useless."

For instance, if Mash's Noble Phantasm was anti-Thaumatology like Caster Medea's Rule Breaker, Mash would not pull it out against these foes. Her sub-conscious would reject it. Or if it was like Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon, then Mash would need to be disarmed and really wanting a weapon to pull on Gate of Babylon.

With experience, she might overcome it or use it for different purposes. But without a clue on how to use it, it all depended on how it worked.

Shirou guessed that it was a defensive Noble Phantasm judging by the class name 'Shielder' but what was it going to defend against? There were lots of legends of heroes defending against different foes, ranging all the way from mortal weapons to animals to dragons to even gods.

"Tch," Olga clucked her tongue. "Then I'm going to _discuss_ this so-called lesson plan with Caster. He needs to improve the quality of his teaching if he expects to get anywhere."

Shirou was glad that she was on that side of the screen and that Caster was the subject of her rage.

* * *

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

"Ah, good timing!" Caster greeted Olga as she angrily walked towards him. He had seen enough angry females in his life to know when one was gearing up to rip him a new one. He didn't know what set her off this time but he had to keep an eye on how to guide Shielder in wielding her Noble Phantasm. "There will be a lull in the fighting until the next few bands a few streets arrive. I'm gonna go check in on Mash's progress."

The white-haired woman glared at him but stiffly nodded.

Caster stopped slouching against the wall and grabbed his staff. It would be more convenient to be over near Mash for this next part.

And more peaceful than having to listen to a woman ream him out.

Hey, he liked a fight as much as the next man, but most woman didn't want a fight when they ranted at ya.

It was unfair, that's what it was.

But he did wonder if he would need to change tactics to teach the girl.

Shielder just wasn't getting it.

* * *

Mash panted as the last skeleton, one with a spear, fell in pieces as the power of the magecraft animating it collapsed under the power of her shield.

It wasn't working. Mash didn't feel anything change or shift inside of her.

There was no change to her body, no irregularities with her internal od flow nor the flow of energy she could feel coming from her bond to her Master.

Not even a sudden unfolding of knowledge like when she had first seen a skeleton here in Singularity F and had charged it in order to protect her unconscious Senpai.

Even dumping a significant chunk of her prana into the shield hadn't worked.

Nothing changed.

Except for the shortness of breath and the burning in muscles from fighting against what must have been every skeleton on this side of the river, Mash didn't feel any changes.

She started as she heard the clack of a wooden staff against the ground behind her. Mash slowly turned around to see a frowning Caster with an angry Olga behind him. Beside her was the blue hologram showing both Mr. Emiya and Dr. Roman as they worked in Chaldea.

Mash straightened herself, preparing to receive the next bit of advice. Only to double over as her stomach protested her movement.

It hurt! Not even the exercise regimen for Masters was this exhausting.

Surely, she must have been worn out by now, right? Caster would must be ready to teach the next step.

She was ready to follow the Queen of the Land of Shadow's training regimen!

"I'm—ready," Mash panted out between gulping air like a fish on land. "But—please—no—more—back—to—back—battles."

"You just don't get it, do ya?" Caster frowned as he shook his head in disapproval. Mash felt a piece of herself shrivel up and die at his disappointment. Was she wrong? Were back-to-back battles really the only way? It couldn't be! It just couldn't be!

"Please," she gasped out. She couldn't fail now. But this wasn't working! Surely Caster had to have a better way! Maybe it had been too long for him to recall what else Lady Scathach had taught him during his training? "teach—me—some—solid—theories—"

Suddenly, Shirou chimed in from the blue hologram. "It's not as hard as you try to make it out to be. You just let the legend act."

Olga whirled around to stare at the projection in astonishment. "What?"

Mash was curious too. What did Mr. Emiya know about Noble Phantasms?

"Yeah, that's right!" Caster snapped his fingers and pointed at the hologram of Shirou. "You just live and throw your confidence behind it. It's not something deliberate. It's instinct."

Mash stared at Shirou in shock before her need for oxygen forced her to breathe. _He was right!?_

"It's hard to use it if you think too much," Caster stated as he turned to face Mash, "Therefore, you must use up all of your energy so you _stop thinking about it_."

"Yeah, it is instinctual," Shirou agreed, a look of comprehension and pity on his face as he looked at Mash. "Don't know about the 'using all of your energy' part but you just- release the legend and throw yourself behind it."

"The using up all her energy is to get her to _stop thinking_ ," Caster explained to the man in the future. "If she doesn't use up all of her energy, she'll just try to plan it out and ignore her instincts. So, we'll get her desperate and then she'll listen. That's what my mentor did to some of my fellow pupils. Are you ready to start?"

A protest of "I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD YOU SAID!" came from Shirou's side of the screen.

"But it is natural! You just reach inside of the weapon, sympathize with it and release its full nature!" Shirou protested as he swiveled around to explain to his coworkers.

"How in the world is she supposed to sympathize with a weapon!" Dr. Roman exclaimed, his eyes facing away from the monitor. "It doesn't even have feelings!"

As foolish as Dr. Roman acted sometimes, in this case, Mash agreed with him on that.

Sympathize with her shield? There was nothing to sympathize with!

It was a shield, not a fellow human being, for crying out loud!

"Well, I was going to try something else next, but maybe that will do the trick," Caster said, nodding his head. "Go ahead and give it try on the next group."

And Caster was agreeing with him!

Mash eyed her shield with doubt.

Don't think too much, act with instinct, and sympathize with her shield?

No way that could be right!

Surely the trick was some odd twist to her Od where she released a pulse of prana into a receptacle in order to activate the Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm!

But she supposed that it was a Noble Phantasm, the power of a Heroic Spirit. To summon a Servant was potentially only a few short steps away from a miracle.

And Noble Phantasms, the weapon of such a hero, were the ultimate solidified Mysteries, the embodiment of a Hero, the representation of their legend.

Some thought it was because of the weakening of Mysteries and the scarcity of modern Noble Phantasms that Heroic Spirits couldn't be created anymore in the modern age and a new one hadn't ascended to the Throne of Heroes in over a century.

After all, what was a Heroic Spirit without a Noble Phantasm?

"And here they are," Caster happily said as he pointed to the gate of the school.

Mash turned around, her breath mostly recovered by this point, to see another pack of skeletons charging at her.

She gritted her teeth and started her march towards them.

"Remember to not think, listen to your guts, and let the Noble Phantasm act!" Caster shouted after her.

Mash crammed all her frustration into a wordless yell as she ran towards the nearest skeleton, ready to smash it into bits.

* * *

 _Antarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

As Mash charged towards another group of skeletons, someone else was dealing with questions.

"So Shirou, how do you know about using a Noble Phantasm?"

"Oh," Shirou's mind raced. He couldn't reveal his true capabilities. Most of the magi here had ties to the Clock Tower. Which meant he had to lie. "-Umm, my magecraft is based around analyzation and replication. I also used a Noble Phantasm or two during the Grail War with the help of my Servant."

Shirou held his breath, hoping the deception wouldn't be detected. Rin would be looked at with suspicion and would definitely be in trouble if it came out that she had known that Shirou was capable of replicating Noble Phantasms and hadn't captured him to let the Clock Tower study him.

Such a thing would probably end up with him under a Sealing Designation which would incarcerate him in the Clock Tower. Forever.

No way to get to Saber nor any way to save anyone.

Such things would be forbidden to a Sealing Designate.

Roman whistled. "Impressive."

Shirou exhaled quietly. _Good thing I managed to hide the true nature of my abilities._

"Also, my Servant had a Master's Noble Phantasm which I was able to use during the Holy Grail War," Shirou expounded upon his lie. He had to make sure that they didn't think to look too closely. "Without it, I would died early on in the War."

"Oh?" Edward said from behind Shirou, voice hiding the true extent of his interest. "Do you still have it somewhere?"

Shirou shrugged.

A Master's Noble Phantasm was a Noble Phantasm that only needed a connection to the Servant to be used. They didn't need to be used by a Servant to work.

Avalon was one of those rare types of Noble Phantasms.

"It went back with my Servant after the war ended," Shirou truthfully said.

Rin had told him that the best lies were the reasonable lies that couldn't be confirmed or denied but were mixed with truth that could easily be confirmed.

The closer you were to that, the better your lie was.

She then told him to not bother lying and just leave it to her. He sucked at it.

"It also used too much energy for anyone who was not a Servant to use," he finished his lie.

* * *

Tom Nawakowski narrowed his eyes at Shirou.

He was getting up there in years and spent more than a few decades here in Chaldea, but he was no fool.

And Shirou had just lied. Tom didn't know exactly which statement the man was lying about, but he had just done it. Shirou's body language was too relaxed and consistent with zero changes for him to be truthful. He had been focused on not giving away any sign of lying that he forced his body language and voice into uniformity, despite the question from Edward.

An amateur's mistake. But just because Tom knew why Shirou lied didn't mean that he knew what Shirou lied about.

It was probably about the Noble Phantasm. Maybe Shirou still had the Master's Noble Phantasm? Or was it more useful than he was letting on?

Or was it more useless and it didn't save his life?

It could also possibly be that Shirou was being a braggart again and had never used a Noble Phantasm during the 5th Grail War. Which was likely the most probable.

Mash was the star of A-team, the strongest in terms of Od capacity of that proud and independent bunch before the bombing had nearly killed them all. And she was having trouble with learning how to use a Noble Phantasm even with a Caster Servant teaching her.

It was far less likely that a young family magus would be able to do what she couldn't.

Tom turned his eyes back to monitoring the spiritron rejection measurements.

He didn't know what the boy who had probably played a role in Roch's death was hiding, but he would get to the bottom of it.

Tom knew that he was short-tempered and was still prone to being too rash despite his years, but he had had time to calm down and think about it. Which had been something he struggled with doing in his younger years.

Shirou might not have won the war, or he might have slain the murderer of Roch instead of killing Roch himself. Shirou might not even be the recent bomber of Chaldea.

Tom had lost control of his temper when Shirou had mocked Roch's loss and death in the Grail War by boasting about winning the 5th Grail War.

However, Tom had independently arrived at the same conclusion as Roman.

Chaldea was in no position to start a witch hunt among the survivors right now, even if they managed to identify the correct culprit.

But with the newest lie…

Tom was definitely going to keep an eye on Shirou.

He was far too suspicious to be trusted.

* * *

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

Mash was past mere panting for air and was now sweating heavily as she brought down her shield on the last skeleton.

She let herself just fall to the ground, on her knees, panting for air, as her shield clattered to the ground beside her. She didn't care about the ash her legs were now stained in.

She was just so _tired_.

If she needed to use up all of her energy in order to use the Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm, she now qualified.

Mash could hear footsteps, from an actual foot and not a part of a skeleton's bony frame, come up from behind her.

She probably ought to turn around and stand up to greet them but-

She didn't have any inclination or strength to do so.

As the footsteps got close to her, she mustered up the will to twist her exhausted body around to face the human or Servant, whoever it was.

Much to her surprise, Ritsuka was holding out a bottle of water to her.

When did he get here?

Had fighting the skeletons taken up so much of her attention that she neglected her Master's safety?

Shame burned within her heart.

Mash cast her eyes down. She was a new Servant, but there was no way that her Master would let a failing such as that not go unremarked or unpunished.

She was a poor substitute for an actual Heroic Spirit who earned his way to the Throne of Heroes.

"Here," Ritsuka's voice said in front of her, causing her eyes to come up to see the bottle of water in the hand of a man with a gentle smile set in a concerned face. "You look like you could use this."

Mash blinked at him.

Then she realized that her Master was offering her some water and that she really should say something.

She was way too tired if it took her this long to realize that the water was for her.

"O-Oh," she managed to say. "Yes, thank you. I appreciate it. My thanks. Gladly."

"You only need to say it once," he chuckled as he pressed the water bottle to her hand.

Mash grabbed ahold of it, her thoughts moving slowly like they were moving through thick syrup.

It was water. She was thirsty and at risk of dehydration from the intense exercise and the high heat from all the fire she had walked between in this city.

Mash shakily unscrewed the cap and slowly raised the bottle to pour the wonderfully wet but warm water down her throat, taking care to look at Ritsuka without being obvious about it.

Was this- normal?

Was this compassion? Pity? Kindness?

Mash didn't know. But she figured that it was more likely closer to normal than any magus she ever met.

"Tch," Caster clicked his tongue as Mash finished her water. "I had hoped that you would get it, but doesn't look like it. Did I miscalculate?"

Mash flinched as she screwed the lid back on before dropping it into Ritsuka's hands.

"Please," Mash begged, getting to her feet. She needed to know how to use the Noble Phantasm. She needed to. She didn't know why she couldn't understand why she couldn't. "Please just-"

"I'm your opponent now," Caster interrupted her, the shadows from the burning fires casting a sinister and dark expression onto his face.

"Wha-" Mash got out in her whirlwind of confusion.

What was going on?

What did Caster mean? Her mind tried to push through the molasses of her exhaustion, but it dragged her thoughts down.

She just couldn't understand what Caster was getting at.

"Don't hold back now because we're allies," Caster continued, his face deadly serious. "After all, I'm not going to hold back when I kill Ritsuka."

"Stop him!" Mr. Emiya yelled from Chaldea, a look of frustration and anger on his face. "Lancer killed the most innocents in my Grail War! He has no compunctions in killing Masters, Servants, or civilians!"

Mash's eyes widened as she finally took in what both men had said.

Then she grabbed her dropped shield and hoisted it in front of Ritsuka.

Just in time to stop the fireball Caster just threw at him.

She needed to protect him!

She couldn't let her Master die!

Even if Caster was her teacher, she wouldn't let him kill Ritsuka!

* * *

 _Antarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

Shirou clenched his teeth as he stared at the projected screen, thoughts racing through his head.

He should have known. Lancer had been the one to enforce the rules the most in the Holy Grail War. He had been the one to kill innocents who saw something that they weren't supposed to. Even Rider or Berserker hadn't killed as many as Lancer had. Rider had eaten other's souls but left enough for them to recover from eventually while Caster had sought to drain the whole town small piece by piece.

But Lancer had killed and killed without complaining. He only complained that his Master held him back from the fights he wanted so much.

And he continued his reprehensible work until he died fighting Gilgamesh.

Lancer had his own honor. He would kill, without compunction, in order to get the job done.

And it didn't bother him.

Shirou should have known. He had talked with Lancer, he had fought against Lancer, he even had Lancer's spear and staff in his Reality Marble.

He knew Cu Chulainn's history but had done nothing to let the group from Chaldea know. He knew the depths that Lancer would go for a mission.

Hadn't that been Cu Chulainn's legend? Hadn't he fought off armies for the sake of his kingdom? Hadn't he fought until blood stained the rivers or Ireland?

Shirou mentally kicked himself for trusting Lancer just because he was a Caster now.

He was still the same person.

But what could he do, Shirou wondered. He was in Chaldea and they were in Fuyuki.

They were Rayshifted and he-

-he wasn't allowed to Rayshift.

"Dr. Roman!" Shirou yelled as he spun to face Roman in his chair up a level and behind Shirou. "Please let me go to the Singularity!"

"You can't," Roman said automatically even as he jumped in his seat from the sudden shock of Shirou's yell. "Your Rayshift ability is-"

"I don't care!" Shirou responded. "Let me go and save them. They aren't able to fight him off. They need help and I can help them!"

Roman didn't look convinced so Shirou pressed on.

"I have faced Cu Chulainn before. I can fight him again. I am faster, stronger, and more experienced than last time. He is slower and weaker too," Shirou said as he got up and walked towards Roman. "If he had to face me and Mash, we could beat him."

"I can't," Roman shook his head. "You are not a Master so TRIMEGISTUS won't allow you to be selected as a candidate for Rayshifting."

"But what about Olga?" Shirou leaped upon the weak point in the argument. "She isn't a Master either!"

Roman looked taken aback at that.

"Please, if I can go there, we can win. Saber taught me swordsmanship, she taught me how to fight," Shirou pressed on, trying to impress upon Romani that this was the best option. "I can-"

"You don't have a sword," Tom broke into the argument. "Without a sword, swordsmanship is useless. And even if it did matter, this is a Servant, and Cu Chulainn at that. He has faced stronger, faster, and tougher foes than you and beat them all. You don't stand a chance."

"I can project a sword," Shirou argued back, turning to face Tom who had stood up from his seat. "I can project as many swords as I need. Even as he breaks one, I can project new ones."

"And projected swords will let you fight head-on against a Servant, the strongest type of familiar?" Tom asked, anger flaring in his eyes. "Don't be an idiot, boy! What you are trying to do is pointless suicide!"

"Even if I die, if we defeat Caster, then it would mean we are in better position to capture the Holy Grail!" Shirou argued back. "That means we can save the world and get the three of them back safely!"

"Hey now, stop arguing," Roman jumped in, breaking up the argument. "First of all, the Director was a Master before she became the Director. She has the necessary permission for TRIMEGISTUS to Rayshift her. I guess no one ever took those permissions off so she still is a Master in the eyes of TRIMEGISTUS. Second, you, Shirou, are not a Master. Even if I tried to start a Rayshift, TRIMEGISTUS's safety features would refuse to Rayshift you and look for a Master instead. We would need the Director to make you a Master before the computer would even go through with it."

"Then make me one," Shirou eagerly suggested seeing a way to finally go and save them. "You're the Acting Director, surely you can make me a Master."

Shirou hated being on the sidelines when people needed help. He _hated_ it. And being forced to watch as others fought and died instead of him was torture.

He could accept fighting alongside others, like he had fought alongside Saber and Rin but just watching as others fought and he didn't was wrong!

"Third," Roman resolutely continued. "Your medical records say that your Rayshift compatibility is insufficient. If we send you, you are more likely to die or have the integrity of your soul get corrupted too fast for us to withdraw you."

"Fourth," Roman swept his hand towards the view of the CHALDEAS below them where the chamber for Rayshifting took place. It still had some rubble, mostly damaged fragments from the Spiritron Chassis Coffins that the Masters used for Rayshifting, and the two empty bodies of Kyrielight and Fujimaru. They couldn't take the bodies out of the room while they were Rayshifted unless they wanted to terminate the pair. And the Coffins were now in cryostasis to preserve the lives of the Masters. But the bomb's explosion had badly damaged some of the Chassis Coffins to the point that structural integrity had almost failed in a few of them, requiring the occupants be moved to unoccupied Coffins in order to save their lives. "We don't have any Coffins left. All of them are heavily damaged from the explosion and what ones aren't being used for cryopreservation of the Masters are so heavily damaged that I don't believe they can work properly. Neither do I like the fact that the Director Olga Marie, Mash, and Ritsuka are there without having their bodies in one but there is nothing I can do about that now. I can though, refuse to send you or anyone else there without one."

"Finally," Roman stared Shirou in the eyes. "As Tom said, what you are saying is suicide. It would take a stupendous magus or a True Magician to defeat a Servant. And Cu Chulainn is one of the best Servants. Even with your history of combat, you don't stand a chance against him. The best you could do is slow him down until he kills you. And then where will we be?"

"No, I refuse to send you," Roman shook his head. "You will do more good here as technician and local guide than down there."

Shirou stared at Roman in disbelief.

He knew that he likely wouldn't be able to defeat a Servant on his own. Even in the Grail War, unless Saber had been with him, he hadn't been able to beat a single Servant. Rider had smacked him around with ease, Berserker had literally crushed him without even meaning to, Lancer had toyed with him, and the less said about his attempted fight against Gilgamesh, the better.

But Mash Kyrielight was a Demi-Servant. A human that was used as a vessel for a Servant, that received the power of a Servant. If Shirou could fight alongside her, the two of them could beat Caster.

Briefly, Shirou contemplated attacking and knocking out the workers here so that he could set up Chaldea to Rayshift himself on something like a timer, but he didn't know how to Rayshift. He knew that it was controlled from this room.

But he didn't know how to initiate a Rayshift or to get past TRIMGEISTUS. And attacking the people here would likely end up with further damage to the system. Damage which could kill the three in the past.

No, taking over the command center by force would be more likely to kill more people than it saved. And it would be unethical to turn on his fellows without good cause. He wouldn't be able to look Saber in the eye if he attacked people for no good reason.

And while saving Mash Kyrielight, Ritsuka Fujimaru, and Olga Marie Animusphere was a good cause, Shirou wouldn't be able to take over the command center, figure out how to start a Rayshift, and then run down to the chamber in time to send himself before Caster killed Olga Marie Animusphere and the others.

Not to mention that TRIMEGISTUS would probably refuse to acknowledge him promoting himself to Master. Shirou wasn't the director or acting director.

No, he was a technician. His permissions that SHEBA and TRIMEGISTUS enforced in Chaldea were limited to the rooms that a technician could go into, access machinery, and the rooms that any employee could enter as well as his own private room.

Nowhere in his list of privileges was he able to make TRIMEGISTUS acknowledge him as a Master. And even if he could, he didn't know how to interact with TRIMEGISTUS here in the command center.

And without Roman or Olga's permission, Shirou couldn't Rayshift.

In other words, _there was nothing he could do_.

Shirou clenched his jaw and jerkily nodded once.

He didn't trust himself to speak now.

He hated every single time he was powerless enough that he couldn't even _try_ to save people.

Roman relaxed with a sigh and a subtle release of body tension.

"Now that you see reason, why don't you-" Roman started to suggest both Shirou and Tom return to their seats before Shirou's comm bleated once before spitting out a blue holographic image of Nadja Haase, the woman still down in the central power plant, with tears flowing from her eyes.

"Shirou!" she cried. "Please help us fix this-"

'Bang!' came as she apparently hit something metal with what sounded like a wrench.

"-stupid generator!"

Shirou glanced aside to Roman who nodded.

"It won't work," Nadja blubbered, tears of frustration coming from her eyes. "We've checked everything, we've taken it apart and put it back together again, followed every step in the-"

'Bang!'

"manual and it STILL!"

'Bang!'

"WON'T!-"

'Bang!'

"-WORK!"

'BANG!'

"Go on," Roman said softly. "You are the only technician we have left."

Shirou stared at him before sighing.

He needed to save the people in the Singularity. But he couldn't. There was no way.

All he could do right now was help fix Chaldea and hoped that they could take care of themselves.

He wondered if this was how Saber had felt when she had been forced to take apart a village in order to support her army so that her entire kingdom didn't fall.

"Alright, I'll be down there in a few minutes," Shirou assured Nadja. "What did you say the problem was again?"

"IT!"

'Bang!'

"WON'T!"

'Bang!'

"WORK!"

'BANG!'

Shirou winced at the sound of metal impacting metal.

Apparently, the stress and lack of sleep had been getting to her. And to be fair, it was a stupid question. If she had known what the problem is but not how to fix it, she would have asked for advice instead.

But Shirou had never seen the young German magus have a breakdown before. She was usually more upbeat in her attitude.

Then again, he had never seen her try to get a generator working before while only on a few hours of sleep over the last few days. And she had said that she was pretty bad with machinery.

"Okay, why don't you sit down and relax for a bit. Maybe ask, hmm," Shirou hummed, trying to recall who was on cooking duty right now. Ah, yeah, Tia, the Spanish lady. "Tia for some tea while you wait, okay? I'll take care of it."

This was a bit like helping Rin with electronics. Only Rin was more likely to resort to wanton destruction over asking for help.

Maybe it was more like Taiga needing help?

Comparing the women, Shirou agreed that right now, Nadja was acting more like Taiga than Rin. Especially when compared to the last time Taiga thought that she should use percussive force to get the television to work properly.

Instead, it had created some new problems, much to Shirou's unhappiness at needing to replace the television.

"No," she said. "We need the generator working as soon as possible. I can't take a break right now!"

"Well, it'll take me time to get down there," Shirou reasoned out. He didn't need to hide his use of Structural Analysis like he used to in high school. Everyone here already knew he was a magus. "No point in having you sit there doing nothing."

"Well-" Nadja blinked her tinted eyes. She must not have been taking good care of herself if the veins in her eyes were visible in the hologram.

"Hey Nadja," Roman interrupted, turning to face Shirou's hologram. "When was the last time you had something to eat?"

Nadja frowned, obviously trying to recall. "Um. Hmm, I think it was dinner a few hours ago?" She questioned.

"Nadja," Roman said with the practiced air of dealing with problem child geniuses who pushed themselves beyond their limits. "Dinner was yesterday. Go get some lunch and some tea while Shirou heads down to the powerplant."

"Yes sir," Nadja sniffed before turning to Shirou.

"But you better come down quickly!" She ordered even as her image started hurrying upstairs to the cafeteria.

* * *

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

Olga stared at Caster who looked far more intimidating than he had several minutes ago.

But then, several minutes ago, he only had lain down a powerful rune that dragged something like a hundred skeletons for Mash to fight.

Several minutes ago, he hadn't tried to kill Ritsuka, her last Master left in her employ.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at Caster. "Are you crazy? What does Ritsuka have to do with this?"

Caster glanced at her, his eyes almost cold. "A Servant's problems are the Master's problems. They share the same fate. Haven't you realized that?"

Caster turned to Ritsuka who looked shell-shocked. "You've had the same thought, right Ritsuka? When the young lady can't stand anymore, that'll be when you die."

Ritsuka looked like someone had poleaxed him but he slowly nodded even as he stood behind Mash.

Mash's eyes widened, even as she moved to be in the line of attack from Caster to Ritsuka.

Olga gaped at the three.

Ritsuka was Caster's Master! What was that idiot doing? Use a Command Seal or something! Control his Servant!

But maybe Ritsuka was conserving the command seals for later?

That idiot! Keeping your familiar from attacking you should be rather basic! That was the whole purpose of the command seals!

To keep the Servant under the control of the Master!

"Master," Mash breathed out. "Please, stand back!"

Ritsuka, still looking like he was stunned, took several steps back.

But Mash didn't notice, her breathing, already heavy from her exertion, accelerated even further.

Was Mash having a panic attack?

Right before combat!?

Olga couldn't believe this!

"I—I won't let Senpai suffer," Mash muttered, breathing way too fast. "I won't!"

Then, even as Ritsuka's eyes widened and his gaze switched from Caster to Mash, Mash yelled and burst forward as fast as a speeding car.

Caster grinned, his expression no longer dark, but instead a crazed grin. "That's what I like to hear!"

And, crazily, Caster charged forward as well, faster than Mash, staff held in both hands, ready to strike anywhere.

Their crashed blows reverberated the air as their superhuman strength and speed met in a flurry of shield and staff, too fast for Olga to really grasp.

The exchange lasted for short period of time, only eight seconds according to Olga's fine sense of time, before the two separated.

Mash's back was to Ritsuka, her shield held out in front of her like a bulwark against a charging dog.

Meanwhile, Caster had a prowl to his walk, like a wolf choosing the right moment to strike.

But Caster was fresh and hadn't done much for the last while, having conserved his energy.

Mash was tired. Her breaths were desperate gasps for oxygen, her chest heaving like she had sprinted a race.

"So if you are not gonna let me pass you physically," Caster started before blurring towards Mash in another attack rush.

Mash responded, speedily moving to block his strikes.

But Caster's final blow with his staff landed a solid against her shield which threw her back several feet. Mash managed to keep her legs and stay upright but now she was less than 5 meters away from her Master.

And 5 meters would be swiftly crossed at Servant level speeds.

Olga's eyes darted around. Surely there was something she could do!

She was Marie Olga, Lord of the Animusphere, and director of Chaldea!

She would not be helpless!

But she saw nothing. Roman's hologram was having him yelling to someone off-screen, not that she could hear anything as he was apparently muted right now, Ritsuka was frozen like a rabbit in front of a hungry dog, Mash was worn out and tired, fighting against a powerful Servant.

And Olga didn't have anything which could be strong against a Servant.

She knew how to summon one, but the Grail War here already had all seven slots filled. And Chaldea's FATE had yet to be anything more useful than just being the world's best research tool on Servants. And FATE was still more likely to fail to successfully summon a Servant.

She should know. Mash was the third success out of something like 137 tries according to her Father's research notes.

She knew several rituals, some magecraft and knew how to make Mystic Codes which would be powerful enough to harm a Servant.

But Caster was Caster. Anything she could do, he could probably not only do better, but reverse engineer it and come up with a counter before she finished chanting the aria.

Olga wished she had something! Her Mystic Code uniform, a bunch of runes, anything!

Even a flashlight would be nice if only he was just facing her!

But she was off to the side of the battle. If she tried to shine a light in his eye, at best she would only get one eye and then he would attack her.

And Caster had already demonstrated his superior speed. He would reach her faster than Mash could.

And then either she or Ritsuka would die to Caster.

Unacceptable. She was too important to die. She had yet to succeed! She hadn't been congratulated yet!

And Ritsuka was one of the only two tools she had available! And if she lost him, she would lose Mash, the more useful one too!

No, if she directly got involved it would have to be to win.

And she didn't see any path with a chance of victory worthy of the Animusphere name.

While Olga's mind raced searching for some better options, Caster jumped back, hand at the ready to draw some runes as he increased his distance.

Mash didn't leave her proximity to her Master's side.

This was bad. Casters were ranged fighters. Mash was melee.

Caster would be able to bombard Mash until she died and nobody knew what Mash's magic resistance was!

Why hadn't she demanded already that Ritsuka tell her!

If Mash's magic resistance was low, Caster would easily win! But if it was high, Mash didn't need to worry.

"If you won't let me pass physically, then it's time to finish this!" Caster roared as he brought his staff in close to him and across his chest. "Burn to the ground with your Master!"

Olga gasped as the feeling of pressure from Caster grew. He was exerting greater magical power.

As a Servant, there was only thing this could be.

"He's using his Noble Phantasm!" she yelled, fear clutching her heart.

Mash's visible eye widened as her breathing picked up.

Come on Mash! This isn't the time to panic! Do something!

"My spell is the coffin of flames, a giant of verdant thorn. Retribution, the forest that will purify human misery," Caster incanted as he turned to point the head of his staff at both Mash and Ritsuka. "Befall the Wicker Man! And behold, as both good and evil bite the dust!"

Caster's energy burst forth, manifesting as a runic circle popping up at Mash's and Ritsuka's feet. Flames burst out, indicating that the primary element of this magecraft Noble Phantasm was fire.

Olga didn't have anything that could counter a four-count aria for a fire Noble Phantasm!

All she could do was hope and pray that Mash could discover her Noble Phantasm before Caster killed them all!

* * *

Ritsuka listened to Caster chant his magic spell. Which had less Latin and paper talismans than he would have expected.

A Noble Phantasm. A Servant's secret weapon and presumably their most powerful judging by Olga's terrified yell.

Ritsuka wondered what could be so bad about one. Wouldn't the skill of the wielder be the most dangerous thing about a hero?

Maybe it was something like a right handed man fighting with his left hand?

It wasn't like it could be a magical weapon or something ridiculous–

Oh right, magic existed. Ritsuka had almost forgot about that.

To be fair, a week ago, he would have confidently answered that magic could not be real.

It had a been a strange last few days.

But if magic existed, would a Noble Phantasm be like an enchanted sword?

Ritsuka's eyes darted between Caster's staff and Mash's shield.

They looked big, authentic, and impressive, but there wasn't anything magical about them. No glowing runes, no magical aura.

But what if calling upon a Noble Phantasm dropped a magical weapon into the Servant's hands? Something that would give Caster a weapon more dangerous than a large wooden stick?

Ritsuka swallowed, eyes open, ready for something magical and dangerous.

As a result, he wasn't ready when a large glowing circle with a bunch of odd figures and shapes appeared around both his and Mash's feet, just above the height of his ankles.

Ritsuka froze. Which way should he run? The circle surrounded him on every side.

He didn't know anything about magic, but he knew enough from fantasy novels that staying inside a circle, when it was a magician trying to kill you, was a bad idea.

Finally, Ritsuka decided where the nearest edge of the circle was but it was too late.

The several meter-wide glowing circle spat out flames to the outside of the circle, causing Ritsuka to freeze in the middle of his first step.

And a giant wooden mesh rose out of the circle, right under him.

Ritsuka's feet slid as the ground underneath gave way to a rising wooden building. Ritsuka instinctively flailed about, trying to grab hold of something to steady him.

The width of the wood was too large for his hand to wrap around. Ritsuka tumbled down, his feet unable to stay steady as the wood moved and undulated under him.

Fortunately, the ground wasn't too far away.

Ritsuka quickly fell off of the wooden Noble Phantasm, the sudden shock and surprise lasting less than a second before he was safely off of the sudden construct. Ritsuka sprawled out on the ground, before turning around to watch what Caster had just done.

And found himself wishing that he had been right that Caster had just made a brand-new construct. Because what he was looking at was no building.

It was a wooden giant. And what he had stumbled off of was the head.

And that the head was in proportion to the body. The body made of wood with a cage with metal doors for a torso.

Ritsuka looked up at the wooden giant and had the most random thought.

 _Now I know what the scale for a Gundam robot is._

Oh, and he was going to die. If nothing else, from when the giant accidentally stepped on him while trying to find him.

And then suddenly Mash was in front of him, standing between him and the wooden robot, her large shield held between them both and the giant.

"Master, please stand back! I – won't be a hindrance for Senpai," she yelled voice made of an iron determination to Ritsuka's ears.

It wasn't an encouraging picture. Mash, the small, slender girl who didn't even clear 160 cm armed only with a shield taller than her against a giant who was already towering over the school. And the giant was still growing.

But to Ritsuka right now, Mash was more than an angel. She was a hero, his savior and the only one he could trust completely.

If she meant that she could handle this, then she could.

No question. No doubt.

Ritsuka believed in her.

So instead of retreating like Mash had said, Ritsuka subconsciously relaxed, trusting everything to Mash. And with his relaxation and complete trust in her, Ritsuka's magic circuits, first activated a few days ago, poured his entire output of prana into her, granting her the energy she needed.

* * *

Mash wasn't in same state of serenity as her master.

In fact, it could be said that while Ritsuka went through fear and terror until he was so far beyond them that he was serene, Mash could be said in a state of panic where her thoughts and feelings were like scattering flock of geese.

 _I must protect. I must unleash it or everyone will—_

 _Please, even if it's fake, even if it's just for now- I have to unleash it properly. Or everyone will disappear!_

And Mash, acting with instinct not hers, utilizing skills she never learned, with power that didn't come from her, flooded the energy she had left into her shield.

And at long last, her spirit and shield responded to her heartfelt pleas as she faced off against the giant Noble Phantasm.

Even as her hands trembled while she held up the shield, Mash could feel it respond to her, like an eager muscle tensing up before a long jump.

Even as she kept her stance behind her shield, Mash started to intuitively pour magical energy into her shield, at a rate, quantity, and with the right properties that seemed just right. Not too much, nor too little, like she picked up an instrument that she knew how to play before even seeing it before.

And then the amount she infused into her shield hit the right amount. How she knew it, she had no clue. Maybe it was like how a very skilled baker like Karen Cook could pour out sugar and flour without relying upon measurement devices, but Mash just _knew_ that this was the right amount of energy for her Noble Phantasm.

Following nothing but the first thought to pop into her panicked and overclocking head, Mash set her stance wide, taking her shield away from in front of her to her right, letting go with her left hand.

Posture set, she, holding the shield entirely by the small handlebar at the back of the center, Mash raised the shield up above her head until it was horizontal parallel to the ground, her left hand rising to the upper edge of her shield.

Now the burst, the defiance against the giant. Mash used both hands to slam the bottom of her large cross-like shield to the ground. There to be held until the danger was gone, until all would be well.

And the shield responded by releasing a burst of energy in a wave emanating from the shield with her as the focal point until the wave recoalesced in the air in front of her, creating a large image of light mirroring the circle at the heart of her shield, with transparent greenish-blue diamonds corresponding to the black parallelograms carved into the circle at the center of her shield.

But the Noble Phantasm was more than just a larger reproduction of the center of her shield.

It was an arcane circle barrier with lines, squares, circles, rhombuses, and polygons centered around a cross shaped symbol at the center. And the magical energy, Mash's power, spread as ripples and bursts of light refreshing the protection wherever the energy went, making the lines and symbols clear as well as the strange script that Mash couldn't read at the edges of the glowing barrier.

Of course, part of that inability to read might have to do with the old script being backwards from her point of view, but Mash didn't care about that now.

 ** _I have to protect my Master!_**

Her life, her spirit, her heart and her body, in unanimous unity, declared that it had to be so!

That Ritsuka Fujimaru and Olga Marie Animusphere and everyone else would not die!

That they would not come to harm!

That the faceless wooden giant, the Wicker Man, would have no power to frighten or threaten harm to anyone!

And as Caster's giant finally finished forming, Mash's Noble Phantasm stood ready to receive it.

Proud, defiant, yet made of naught but light and magical energy, the shield confronted the conjured giant of solid wood and metal.

The giant didn't even pause.

It struck, one slow, large arm fell towards Mash, as she stood behind her two shields, one of metal, one of light.

And the arm, which would have smashed through the concrete walls of the school nearby without even noticing, bounced off of the barrier of light.

The Wicker Man didn't care. It wasn't controlled or even autonomous. It had only one goal, one objective, only one thing it could and would do.

To grab the offerings to the gods of the Celts. To capture them and offer them up in a blaze of glory and honor.

Literally.

The giant thrust its other arm forward towards the two humans that were soon to be the sacrifices even as the wooden feet at the bottom of the giant started to blaze in sweltering heat.

Behind the shield, neither Mash or Ritsuka could feel it. Not one flicker of flame or spark, not one degree of temperature could breach Mash's barrier.

But the giant just rushed forward, to grapple past the barrier as more and more wood caught on fire, giving it the appearance of a fiery giant made of flames around a skeleton of wood with a ribcage of metal.

But the shield stood firm, rebuffing the giant of fire even as Ritsuka's energy flowed through Mash, mixing with her Servant's reserves until it reached the shield, flowing into the barrier.

The giant took another step forward to the edge of the magical projection, the fires blazing far above Mash's head and all around the massive protective shield, creating a second coming of concentrated fire like the ones that even now raged across the homes and building of Fuyuki City.

But not even the concentrated flames could break the integrity of the light rebuffing the far more material Noble Phantasm even as the fires consumed the giant.

And finally in a final blaze of fire, the light of which could penetrate through Mash's shield, causing her eyes to automatically flinch close, the giant made a final effort.

And when she opened them, the ashes of the wooden giant, iron cage and all, were scattering to the wind, away from the shield.

Leaving four shocked and surprised individuals and Mash's Noble Phantasm.

"Oh, I," Mash stared, wide-eyed at the large glowing outline of her shield magically projected against the giant wooden man who had collapsed upon hitting the shield. "Did I, manage to unleash my Noble-"

The Noble Phantasm lost cohesion as her flow of magical energy cut off, the light dispersing until it vanished like the Southern Lights into a snowstorm covered sky. Mash swallowed, the disbelief slowly fading but still there even as she forced the final word out. "-Phantasm?"

Somehow saying the word made her believe it. Like the words broke a barrier of disbelief in her own mind.

"Whew," Caster sighed, setting his staff on the ground, the picture of relaxed despite trying to kill them just moments earlier.

"I knew you'd survive that," he boasted, even as he shook his head "But I never thought both you and your Master would walk out without a scratch."

"Be happy, young lady," He congratulated her, grinning in pleasure at his pupil's success.

Mash couldn't believe it.

She had deployed her Noble Phantasm!

She, Mash Kyrielight, had a Noble Phantasm!

She had saved Ritsuka Fujimaru!

"Wait, no" Caster looked oddly at her before turning to Ritsuka who was still goggling from the ground, while Caster beamed with pride. "Praise her, Ritsuka. That young lady there is, without question, a first-rate Heroic Spirit."

Mash, more happy emotions than rational thoughts, followed her teacher's lead and turned to face her sprawled out Master.

"Senpai," she managed to say, her endorphins rushing through her, happiness flooding her mind. "I – just now!"

He blinked before getting to his feet, smiling all the way as he brushed off some ash from his uniform.

"Congratulations, Mash," he said, pleased at her success and amazing accomplishment. "That was amazing!"

Mash beamed at him, words lost in the heady feeling of success.

"Fou, foooooouuuu!" Fou yipped as he jumped and ran up her arm to her shoulder before rubbing his cheek across her cheek in pleased congratulations.

"That was surprising," Roman's hologram said, conveying his shock from Chaldeas. "I didn't expect her to unleash her Noble Phantasm that soon! Mash was never someone with a strong will."

Mash winced, her past failures coming to mind, her recent achievement turning to ash in her mouth.

She had been horrible. She had not been able to do even one chin-up in physical exercises, she had failed to do even five push-ups, she was always dreaming about the sky, always finishing last in the physical exercises required for the Masters in Chaldea, …

She had always given up. Failed. Taken herself for having zero talent in physical fields and never tried to rise above it. Even now, her physical state was completely due to the Heroic Spirit's power.

Which was partly why she had studied her heart out, learned as much about history, myths, and legends as she could, learned to manipulate mana and prana, learned to recognize and, if necessary, perform ritual Thaumatology.

She was horrible at physical things but she managed to make up in the magical side, her abundance of quality Magic Circuits carrying her through.

Mash glanced down to the ground, unwilling to look Ritsuka in the eye as undoubtedly, his admiration turned to disgust. Even as she remembered how badly she had failed, how often she had given up at being any good at anything physical.

And now, it was the aspect that as a Servant, she was best at.

A rank Endurance, meaning that she could go farther and longer than anyone else, taking damage that would kill anyone weaker.

Yet she never went beyond what was expected of her, often failing to meet even the basic expectations.

The physically _weakest_ of the Masters.

"That's because you got her all wrong," Caster said, laying one hand upon her shoulder. Mash looked up at him, startled.

She hadn't been expecting anyone to think that she was good. What did Caster know about her that she, or Doctor Roman didn't?

"You may call the young lady here a protector. She's a natural shield for her comrades," Caster continued. "There's no point in teaching a bird to swim, is there? You have to teach a bird how to fly high."

Mash blinked, surprised.

Was that true? Was she a protector?

Was that her personality type?

She didn't know. She never had had to defend anyone.

Everyone had always been more capable than herself.

Mash turned her eyes to her Master, wondering if Caster was right.

Was she a protector?

Was she worthy of being relied upon?

Ritsuka's eyes were still open, no shadow behind them, without deceit. He wasn't secretly judging the world or her and finding it wanting.

Just open admiration, happiness, and honesty.

 _He admired her._

Mash swallowed in shock and surprise.

How could he admire _her?_ Didn't he see her for who she was?

A weakling? A disappointment? A failure?

A person who was unable to reach her potential for even one moment?

But he _admired_ her.

And Mash wanted to believe him.

So, so much. She wanted to believe that she was worthy of being admired. Of being relied upon.

"Although," Caster trailed off, embarrassment in his voice, bringing her back down to earth again in time to hear her failure. "She didn't get to obtain its True Name."

"Right," Mash winced, slumping slightly.

True, she had deployed her Noble Phantasm.

But she failed to use or get the single strongest factor of her Noble Phantasm, its True Name.

A True Name was the heart of a Noble Phantasm. The identification of the centerpiece of the Heroic Spirit's legend, which was what got them onto the Throne.

Using a True Name brought the full force of the Heroic Spirit's legend down, bringing out the strongest aspects of humanity in a display of strength that very few alive could match.

It was documented that a Noble Phantasm without its True Name was much weaker than if the True Name was used.

Mash had to agree. Without a True Name, her Noble Phantasm was-

-pathetically weak.

It must be a disappointment to the Heroic Spirit that gave her his powers.

"Even though I can unleash my Noble Phantasm now," Mash admitted "I still don't know its True Name, nor the True Name of the Heroic Spirit."

"That's fine," Olga said, smiling smugly as she walked over from the sidelines where she had been forced to watch the two Servants fight. "Even if you are inexperienced, even if you are only temporary."

Olga laid her hand on Mash's armored shoulder, still smiling with pride and satisfaction. "Your very wish unleashed your Noble Phantasm. You didn't have the slightest desire to obtain a True Name, to become one of the chosen—To become a true Heroic Spirit."

Mash agreed with her. But it was embarrassing to have it said aloud! Especially in front of her Master…

She should have a desire to obtain a True Name. to become a true Heroic Spirit.

That was what every magus strove for, to become influential, to accomplish something meaningful.

To reach the Root. Or at least make it possible for their descendent, the bearer of their dream and genetics to make it there because of their work.

Mash, in comparison did not. She wanted to learn, to experience.

To see the sky and all that was in and under it.

"That's why your Noble Phantasm responded," Olga concluded with self-satisfied sigh. "Ahh, what an inspiring story. Just like a fairy tale."

Olga took her hand off, stepping back.

"Um, director…" Mash said. That last part wasn't necessary was it? She wasn't like some famous hero from legend or a story made up to entertain children.

She was Mash Kyrielight.

"Oh, don't mind me, I'm just teasing," the director waved off Mash's tentative complaint. "I'm pleased that you're able to use your Noble Phantasm now."

She scowled thoughtfully. "But it's inconvenient to use it without a True Name, right?"

Mash nodded. To use a Noble Phantasm without a True Name was—

Well, she didn't know. She hadn't been a Servant for long. Less than a day in fact. But she estimated that it wouldn't be very well received by the other Heroic Spirits who had earned their legend.

"I'll think of a good spell for you," Olga Animusphere said, thoughtfully as she paced along the dusty courtyard of the school. "Hmm, since it's a pseudo-deployment of Noble Phantasm—Let me see…"

She suddenly nodded, stopping abruptly as she turned to Mash. "Yes, let's call it 'Lord Chaldeas.' Chaldea is a name that has meaning for you too. So to activate your Spirit Origin, that's a good spell for you, right?"

Mash cocked her head considering the name, feeling it over in her mind.

Lord Chaldeas.

Yes, she liked that name.

It described where she came from, what her purpose was.

She was now a defender of humanity, protecting it from extinction by means of the Chaldea Organization.

Just more physically and violently than she liked as a Servant instead of a human.

"Y-Yes," she stammered in her happiness at having a good name given to her by her superior. "Thank you, Director!"

Mash bowed low to Olga Marie, who smugly waved it off as her due.

"Lord Chaldeas," Roman said, also feeling over the name before agreeing in good cheer. "Yes, I like it. That fits you perfectly, Mash! Would you like to try it out again?"

Mash nodded. 'Lord Chaldeas'. She could use it but maybe her Spirit Origin and Noble Phantasm would reject it?

Best to test it out now before using it in the field.

"Yeah," Caster agreed, preparing his staff and stretching his muscles in anticipation. "I was holding back before, but even so, her defense was impeccable. Yeah, I'll make sure that she can pull it out again."

Flashing an eager grin Caster finished his warm-up exercises and turned to both Mash and Ritsuka, a predatory and eager grin taking over his face. "Ritsuka, young lady, are you ready?"

"Yes, please!" Mash said

If she was going to be relied upon by her Master, she had to make sure that he never had cause to feel failed by her.

That he could continue to rely on her.

That she wouldn't ever fail him.

That he could completely depend on her.

Like no one had ever depended on her before.

"All right," Ritsuka said, taking a few steps away from the upcoming fight.

Mash let him. She could block the Wicker Man with her Noble Phantasm, Lord Chaldeas.

Now she would test it, prove it, and demonstrate that she could be relied upon.

Mash settled into position, legs set into a firm posture, her slight body completely behind her shield that towered over her.

Caster set himself across from her, a distance of about 15 meters, staff clutched in both hands.

The two stared at each other in a moment of tense silence before the storm.

Then Caster moved, slamming his staff into the ground, chanting the full lines of his Noble Phantasm, his mana output feeling stronger than the amount he poured into his first usage.

"My spell is the coffin of flames, a giant of verdant thorn. Retribution, the forest that will purify human misery. Befall the Wicker Man! And behold, as both good and evil bite the dust!" he roared, his enthusiasm clear to Mash.

But Mash decided to wait. To wait until the circle appeared as the sense of tension played across her nerves.

And once she caught sight of the runes underneath her, she acted.

"Deploying Noble Phantasm, LORD CHALDEAS!" Mash yelled as she jumped back, her shield raised above her head until she hit the ground and slammed the steel down, angling her shield to cause the defensive barrier to appear slanted downwards towards where the giant would soon appear.

And the giant's head, rising up from the ground, bounced into the shield, and was knocked to the side, away from the shield.

The giant emerged, body climbing out of the circle, squeezing out between the defensive Noble Phantasm, and the ground, the latter of which gave way to let the giant go free. In contrast, the former did not budge.

Mash noted how the enlarged shield mirrored her own before she realized that the giant was free.

And her shield out of position.

Mash's eyes widened as she hastily backpedaled, bringing her shield back up to face against the sky.

And, like how she suddenly knew how to use a shield against the hordes of skeletons, she knew that the larger shield would follow her smaller shield.

Which it did, the projection of light mirroring her shield until it stood between her and the large giant seeking to kill her.

Was it just her or did the Wicker Man seem larger than before?

Fortunately, it wasn't any stronger as the first fist bounced off the brightly glowing shield.

Or maybe the offensive Noble Phantasm was stronger, just not enough to break her Noble Phantasm?

Mash didn't know but the difference was academic as she kept a close eye on the giant to—

A flicker of movement from the sidelines and Mash snapped her head to see Caster in a full out sprint heading around her.

Mash berated herself inside her mind.

Caster's Noble Phantasm was more like a golem than something Caster had to control. He could just launch it and then let it act on its own.

It probably allowed him some more time to make up some more rune spells or do preparation for a Mystery that took longer to invoke.

Or, like in this case, use it as an overblown distraction.

Mash spun to the side, her D-rank agility causing her to move at speeds she had been getting used to ever since she had woken up inside the Singularity.

Her shield blocked the giant's last punch before it took off after Mash, a portable tortoise shell while Mash sped to reach her Master before Caster could get a clear shot.

A burst of heat from behind her reminded Mash that while Caster was a threat, so was the Wicker Man.

Mash adjusted her shield so that it faced backwards even as she ran straight back towards Ritsuka. It slowed her down a tiny bit as she fought against the drag of the wind on her shield, but better she block the Noble Phantasm than let it rampage about.

So when she saw Caster's finger sketch a quick rune while he ran, Mash sped up before leaping to get between it and Ritsuka, shield still angled towards the wooden giant.

Leaving her alone against the fire Mystery created by ancient runes.

Mash stood her ground, scared of the threat the fireball represented.

But more scared of and determined to prevent the loss of Ritsuka Fujimaru.

And she was a Servant. She could probably handle an attack like this.

Ritsuka would burn up and die if he got hit.

So she would take it in his place.

But this would really hurt!

Mash braced herself for the pain.

But no one was more surprised than Mash was when the fireball hit her-

-and just vanished as it confronted her Magic Resistance and lost.

Mash unintentionally let her Noble Phantasm collapse at the shock of not feeling the pain of fire burning her flesh, unmindful of the shield fall apart as she stopped feeding it energy.

A sudden flare of heat let her know of her mistake as she stepped back and to the side slightly to let herself better see both Caster and his Noble Phantasm which was nearly completely burnt up.

The giant reached out, more flame and ash than solid substance now, before the last flames burned through the remaining wood, causing the giant to fall apart into a cloud of ash that would provide another layer to the ash-covered school.

Mash kept an eye on Caster now but the man had skidded to a stop, hand on the ground, the other holding his staff up and behind his back.

"Good work," the more experienced Servant said, standing up and brushing off his hand. "You always have to keep in mind the nature of the Noble Phantasm or opponent you are facing. Each Noble Phantasm is different, unique to the wielder's legend. If you lose track of that, then you will lose."

Mash nodded, relaxing from the stance she had been holding in case her teacher decided that she would need another lesson in being prepared and paranoid in combat.

But she did wonder why Caster had glanced towards the blue hologram that indicated Dr. Roman's state in Chaldea.

"Hey Mash."

"Yes?" Mash asked, turning to her Master, head tilting in curiosity.

Ritsuka smiled, "Thank you."

Mash's face smiled back, conveying her happiness.

She had learned to use her Noble Phantasm.

She wasn't an inferior substitute for a Servant.

* * *

 **Yeah, Shirou has all the teaching talent of his father, namely pretty much none. Mash wishes that it was different but almost no one knows how to use Noble Phantasms except Heroic Spirits and fakers (Shirou) and the only faker I know of just analyzes the Noble Phantasm's history to see how it works and then copies the hero's skill. Which is not that useful for Mash as she doesn't have the same branch of magecraft that Shirou does. Nor has Shirou copied Mash's shield yet.**

 **Now, for the big debate. I know some of you are going that Shirou should be able to project Avalon. However, according to a translated FAQ I have read in some extra materials for Fate Stay Night, when Saber vanished, Shirou's image of Avalon also vanished.**

 **I do have plans for Avalon though so if you have objections -which I expect there will be some no matter what I say so I ask that you include something else in any complaints about Shirou's Avalon otherwise I will not respond to your review- I request that you please wait. It will be dealt with by the epilogue. I have a scene regarding Avalon already written out.**

 **So please hold your opinions until this story is finished. Then after you read what I have done with it, then you can tell me your issues, complaints, opinions, reviews and I will respond.**

 **And especially this time, thanks to Eiskralle1 and shadyxlr for beta reading this chapter. They probably weren't expecting me to finish up this chapter on Christmas Eve and send it to them. Yet they still found time to help during the busiest times of the year.**


	13. Checklist 12: Quick and Prompt Response

**Going to give a bit of forewarning.**

 **In my version of Shadow Servants, each Shadow Servant does not have their Noble Phantasm(s). That means that Archer is much weaker than canon (fortunately). If I didn't hit Archer with a nerf bat, I'm pretty sure that he could have beaten the pair. Mash is too inexperienced to fight Archer and Caster's only weapon is his staff and runes.**

 **And Archer has Rule Breaker, which would easily destroy Caster's runes.**

 **So I took away Unlimited Blade Works from Shadow Servant Archer.**

 **That doesn't mean Archer is weak. Oh no, he still has Eye of the Mind (True) which allows reversals if there is even a 1% chance of victory for Archer.**

 **And Archer is very, very good at fighting.**

* * *

 **Checklist Item 12: Respond to Emergencies Quickly and Promptly**

 _Antarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

Shirou, eyes closed to aid his focus, was performing Structural Analysis on the generator that had so frustrated Nadja Haase.

Interestingly, Nadja's banging on the generator had shook the wire that had originally been disconnected back into place.

Which was great. One problem solved. Unfortunately, the solution had also knocked two separate wires loose.

One step forward and two more back. Wasn't that life?

Shirou could bang on the generator until it worked again…

But he'd rather use a different method. This way he could be sure that he wouldn't shake other wires loose while trying to bang the wires he wants back on. And he definitely would prefer a much more elegant, comfortable, and less likely to depend on luck method.

Namely a screwdriver, a toolkit, and his two gloved hands.

Funny how that even in a cutting-edge research center, observatory, and staging area for saving humanity, the oldest and more primitive methods were still the most viable.

Though, the quality of the toolkit was much higher than what he used back in his high school days.

Shirou had a guess that it might be that Chaldea had a much high budget than Homurahara Academy.

Something about a budget on the scale of a country rather than a small segment of the Japanese budget for the education system.

Eh, thinking about it won't get the generator fixed, Shirou concluded as he unscrewed the outermost layer.

As he started to search through the innards of the machine, he heard the automatic door open behind him.

Shirou tensed up. He didn't know who was coming through the door. Was it the demon? Was it someone else?

Only one way to find out and Shirou wasn't a coward.

The red-head turning white turned his head to look behind him.

It was Nadja, the German magus, hands holding some type of sandwich with a thermally insulated bottle hanging from the belt around the waist of her white knee-length skirt.

She swallowed the bite in her mouth before waving, sandwich in her other hand. "Hello!"

"Hello," Shirou subtly relaxed as he nodded back in reply.

"Hello again," Harmen Poole, an African janitor, said from the different generator that he was working on, instruction manual open in front of him.

Harmen hadn't talked much with Shirou today. Partly because he was reading the manual to try and figure out how to correctly diagnose the machine he was working on.

As for Nadja, Shirou wasn't very surprised to see Nadja come back from her break so early. She, like everyone else here in Chaldea with a few exceptions such as old man Ullr who kept on falling asleep at his desk in the archives, had a relentless work ethic. Even Shirou fit in the pattern which was why he didn't have a nickname like in his high school days. He hadn't stood out.

And unless she was a sleeper agent who didn't know that she was compromised, Shirou didn't think she would attack him. Not when she would be the first suspect.

As she walked over, Shirou sniffed the air and eyed the food in her hand, wondering what she was eating. A large bread roll sliced in half with plenty of ham, cheese, egg, lettuce and maybe some salami if he was smelling correctly.

A belegtes broetchen, if Shirou remembered correctly. A German sandwich.

At the thought, Shirou had to fight down a touch of nostalgia. Illya had liked having those, homemade of course, for their picnic lunches when she and Taiga dragged him along for an outing or to explore the city.

Refocusing his attention, Shirou's tired mind realized that Nadja was still walking towards him.

"Hey, while you're eating that, could you please not come here?" Shirou asked politely.

"What?" Nadja stopped, frowning as she eyed him. "Why?"

"Bread crumbs," Shirou promptly responded. "They're a pain to clean out and if you don't then they lead to problems like insects or mold. Not to mention they like to get into hard to reach places and those spots tend to be the last place you want to mold or insects to come. Like right next to an live wire."

"But doesn't Chaldea implement a cleaning process on everyone and everything that enters? I thought it was effective down to the bacterial scale." Nadja asked as she backed away to lean against the wall with her broetchen still in hand.

"Uh," Shirou stalled.

He had honestly forgotten about that. And he hadn't seen any mold or insects anywhere in Chaldea in the several years he had worked here, so it obviously was working.

That and Antarctica was slightly hostile to most insect and plant life.

"Then it is not needed," Shirou concluded. "All right, is there something you need?"

"No," Nadja said, much calmer than when she had called him down here. A break and some food had done her some good as Shirou could see. It didn't help the dark circles under her eyes but everyone had them now. "I just wanted to see what I could learn by watching you. But if you say that this is a good habit to have, then I'll learn it."

Shirou shrugged and turned back to what he was doing. Up to her what she did with her time. But he kept an ear open for anything suspicious.

He didn't want her to sneak up on him or anything. In case she was hostile.

A few moments of silence passed as she opened up her bottle to drink whatever the contents were and Shirou continued his work.

"So. Just going to be blunt here," Nadja started somewhat awkwardly but completely determined to move past it. "What was the problem and how do you fix it?"

"Hmm?" Shirou replied somewhat startled at the interruption. "Oh, a wire had gotten loose from its mooring. But you knocked it back into place with your banging."

"What, really?" Nadja asked startled. "Harmen told me not to do that as he thought it would damage the equipment more than it would fix it. And it still wasn't working so I thought he was right."

"Well, you also managed to knock two different wires loose with the same banging so..." Shirou trailed off with a slight smirk as he teased the woman.

"Urk!" she coughed. "Sorry!"

"No worries," Shirou waved it off. "Both of you are right. It does fix devices but it tends to damage them as well."

"How does that work?" Nadja asked curiously.

"No clue," Shirou shrugged. "Never used it."

Shirou could feel the stare on the back of his neck.

Shirou shifted, slightly uncomfortable. He didn't know why she was staring at him- Oh.

"Structural Analysis was always good enough to tell me what had gone wrong in the device," Shirou explained to her unasked question. "though, I do think that percussive maintenance might work if you can't identify what was wrong. The Fujimura often used it when they couldn't figure out why something wouldn't work. But they also tended to break it if they hit it too hard and it left dents."

Especially one enthusiastic tiger themed teacher and big sis in particular who never stopped to think if it would be a good idea to use her shinai and full strength blows as a substitute for a wrench.

…

How odd. Shirou usually felt like someone was going to attack him whenever he thought about Taiga in that way.

Maybe Taiga was distracted with something? Probably Sakura's cooking. She had gotten very good.

"Alright," Nadja nodded. "So per- per- what was it called again?"

"Percussive maintenance," Shirou repeated as he physically found the first wire.

"So percussive maintenance is banging on something until it either breaks or works. And it is the most basic way but unreliable?" She asked questioningly.

"Or until you give up and go to someone who knows what to do," Shirou commented, not trying too hard to hide his smirk.

"Hey!" she frowned. "Don't mock me. The instruction manual said to ask for help that if I couldn't find what was wrong."

"Sorry, sorry," Shirou apologized. "But yes, it works. More reliably on older things than the newer technologies but that is the basics of it."

"So what should I do if I want a better method of fixing it?"

"Well, the first step is to find out what is wrong," Shirou answered, finally finding the wire and running a gloved finger down it until he found the spot in question. "Speaking as a magus, Structural Analysis is the most useful shortcut in this field. Without it, it can take hours to find the problem."

"Structural Analysis," She repeated to herself. "Just to confirm, that's the mystery that allows a magus to understand a physical structure correct? The most basic of material transmutation?"

Language barriers were a pain to get around. Shirou knew that all too well. Especially for magus terms across languages.

For some reason, magi tended not to write thesauruses to tell the name of their mysteries in different languages. And rarely did the different languages have a similarly translated name.

Shirou guessed it might be that magus feared that other magus could steal or reverse engineer their mysteries if they gave out too much details. So they gave somewhat poetic or confusing names to anything they invented.

Just made translation more of a pain.

"Yes."

"Alright, so using magecraft on repair work is best done by material transmutation," Nadja concisely spoke into her communicator. Probably using the voice record function.

Either that or she was repeating things for the fun of it.

"What do you do after that?" She asked.

"Depends on the problem," Shirou grunted as he finally got a stubborn screw unloosed. "Sometimes it is a material failure and you need to fix it. Sometimes it is alignment and you just need to nudge it back into place. Sometimes something is missing so you need to replace it."

"After diagnosis, tailor the solution to the problem," Nadja repeated. "At least three types of problems: material, alignment, and absence."

She paused for a moment to swallow a gulp from her bottle before continuing. "Was this an alignment problem?"

"Yup," Shirou said as he reconnected the wire. "By the way, percussive maintenance is best suited to alignment trouble."

After Nadja repeated that into her notes, she asked. "So how do you fix the next part?"

"Here, I have to manually reattach the wires," Shirou explained as he finished connecting the wire. "So the next step would be access the problem area. If you damage the device while accessing it, you will have problems."

"I can do without the sarcastic comments, thanks," Nadja riposted before summarizing for her recording. "Then you fix it?"

"Yes," Shirou answered as he started on the second wire. "Solve the problem as it were."

"And then you reattach everything and get it back to normal," Nadja said as she referred to the removed covering next to Shirou. "I assume that is the last step?"

"Actually, no." Shirou responded. "Then you test it. If it works then you are done. If it doesn't then-"

"-Start back over at step one," Nadja interrupted. "Huh, pretty straightforward but it can become complex due to multiplicity of options?"

"Yes," Shirou said as he finished up. The second wire just need some electrical tape so it was over with quickly.

"Alright," Nadja concluded as she took a gulp from her bottle.

"So, Shirou, why don't you work here full-time?" she asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Shirou said, looking up from reattaching the screws in the covering. "Oh, that's because I have two dreams that I want to fulfill."

"Two dreams? Not just one?" Nadja asked in surprise. "What are they?"

"Well, first I want to be a hero of justice and save everyone."

At that, Nadja snorted and gasped out some laughter.

"Wait, really?" she asked in amusement. "it isn't enough to be saving all of humanity by working here, you also want to be a superhero?"

"Yes. Its my goal and dream." Shirou confirmed. He didn't mind how everyone thought his dream was stupid or laughable. He would still be serious about it even if no one else was.

"And what do you mean by 'everyone'?" she asked. "You have to throw me a bone here because you can't mean _everyone_ , right?"

"Yes, exactly that, everyone." Shirou confirmed.

"Even the murderers, the criminals and serial killers?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes." Shirou responded in full seriousness. "Even they need to be saved."

"You've got to be joking. At least you are working here, where that is possible if we correct the Singularity," Nadja said as she shook her head, disbelief and mirth in her voice. "Well, what's the other? Colonize the moon?"

"No, but that would actually easier," Shirou denied as he got up and turned around. "I will be with Saber again."

"Wait, the Saber in Fuyuki? The one that protecting the source of the Singularity?" Nadja asked, brows furrowed in worry, one last bite of sandwich left in her hands.

"No," Shirou explained resolutely. "My Saber. The one from my Fifth Grail War. She would never do what the Singularity's Saber is doing."

"Okay," Nadja said. "So you are trying to make it onto the Throne of Heroes then?"

"Saber's situation is complicated," Shirou said as he moved over to the breeder generators for the Fire of Prometheus. "She is actually in Avalon instead."

"Avalon," the German magus mused before suddenly sitting up. "Wait, you mean the Avalon on the Reverse Side of the World?! The Avalon that only has two human inhabitants, King Arthur and Merlin! That Avalon!?"

"Yes," Shirou admitted.

Nadja slumped back, staring at Shirou like he was crazy. "You are crazy if you think you can go there. You actually have a better chance of entering the Throne of Heroes than Avalon."

"I will accomplish my dreams," Shirou said resolutely. "I will strive to save everyone and I will find my way to Saber."

Nadja was silenced at that.

"Shirou, those are great dreams, but stupid," the woman said after a while. "First, your saving everyone dream. It's a nice dream but reality simply doesn't work that way. Sacrifices have to be made. I'm not just talking about magecraft here, but also the nature of life itself."

"You see, in order to live, things have to be sacrificed. For example," she held up the remainder of her broetchen. "In order to make this, dozens of stalks of wheat were sacrificed just to make the flour. Stalks whose seed was ground up and prevented from being planted. And for me to eat the ham, the pig had to die. Same for the salami. To get the cheese, a cow's milk, the source of life for her young, was converted through some process into cheese. The egg of a chicken was taken so that instead of nurturing a young life inside, its shell was cracked and contents mixed and cooked. And the lettuce was just living in its field until one day the farmer came and ripped it from the ground."

"All of those animals and plants died so that I could have a sandwich. So that I can eat it and have the nutrients and carbohydrates and all that stuff that I need to live for another day. If I didn't eat, I will die. If I do eat, they'll die," She continued, letting her belegtes broetchen rest in her lap. "So what should I do? Should I sacrifice them? Or me? Either way, something has to be sacrificed. That's just the way life works."

"You can't save _everyone_. To do so is beyond even a miracle. You'd have to, I don't know, redesign Gaia or the entire universe even if you want to give it a half-way decent chance."

"Maybe not now, but someday I will be able to save everyone." Shirou responded.

"Riiight," she drawled, eying him suspiciously. "And let's not talk about the more realistic- which I can't believe I'm saying because this requires at least one miracle to even make possible- dream of meeting your former Servant again."

Nadja shook her head, head down. "Geez, why don't you do something more realistic like search for a route to Akasha or something."

Shirou shifted uncomfortably.

Illya had told him and Rin the secret and true purpose of the Grail. The Fuyuki Grail had been built to allow the Eiznbern a way to the reclaim their long-lost True Magic via a route to Akasha.

In other words, Shirou had found one of the coveted routes to Akasha that every magus was looking for, that they spent generations simply laying the framework and foundation for their descendants to achieve. And then he destroyed it.

Fortunately, neither Nadja nor Poole noticed Shirou's unease.

It wasn't easy trying to save everyone. So far, Shirou hadn't succeeded even once in the last decade. There was always someone who lost their life in a situation. But Shirou had improved to the point that he was able to take down more people without needing to kill them in a fight.

But he would succeed someday. Saber never gave up on her kingdom until the cost was her honor and his life. And that had been for a wish that would have doomed her kingdom.

Once she had realized that she didn't need her wish, she had gone back.

And now she was waiting, waiting continuously for him in Avalon.

Shirou will find his way there. He will search endlessly, he swore it.

* * *

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

Olga glanced up from the rubble stone she was currently carving runes onto.

While Mash rested and caught her breath from the exhaustive training, Olga had sought for some means to avoid being weak and helpless again.

She wasn't a real Master so she couldn't use Servants to fight this battle.

She was a magus, a high quality one with the Animusphere crest, a crest that had been built over centuries, no thousands of years, by her talented ancestors, but given the last three enemy Servants were Berserker, Archer, and Saber, all of whom were practically immune to magecraft due to Magic Resistance or was just overpowered _Heracles_ , anything she could do in combat would be inadequate to harm, much less kill the hostile Servants.

But she could provide some form of support. Especially if she prepared beforehand.

As she was an Animusphere, with all the power that the name entailed, she had many options of how she could prepare support.

Unfortunately, with the Evocation-Invocation Engine undergoing repairs, most of those options were entirely unfeasible. Without her workshop, the best option left of the sorry bunch was to craft one-time-use runes that could distract an opponent or make something to strengthen Mash.

But Olga's pride refused to let the only Servant under her command go into battle with shoddy workmanship. And the only materials that could be made into something was the measly skeleton's bones.

Not quality materials worthy of being associated with her family's name.

No, such things would have to wait until she could access her workshop or get one of the employees to do it. Maybe Drake could point out-

Olga winced as she recalled that her head of Human Resources had been in the command center when the attack had happened. And he had been senior to Romani Archaman.

Her handpicked, elite staff was in ruins!

Olga pushed aside the grief and anger, long practice coming to her side once more.

Well, just like how she led Chaldea for the past three years, there was nothing for it but to move onto the next thing and find time later to grieve.

Maybe she could find some powerful Mystic Codes in their archives. Root knows that they had plenty of stuff in there.

But she hesitated to give anyone permission to enter those sections of the archives. Not while she didn't know who had set the bombs.

As for where they came from, Olga had a suspicion.

The archives had a significant amount of combat materials. Most of it unknown and unavailable to the lesser workers. Those materials included a large number of explosives in case they needed an expansion of the facilities or in a Rayshift.

Olga suspected that the saboteur had somehow found out about the explosives, maybe by examining their supplier's records or sneaking into accounting. And then they stole the explosives and planted them.

More worrying to Olga was the fact that the explosives were on the low end of the dangerous materials in the archives. Low end enough that the Archives didn't report the movement of the materials directly to her.

No, what concerned Olga was the _dangerous_ stuff.

Her father had had one of the top secret and legendary Atlas's contracts. A contract that allowed him to make demands and bargains with the secretive Atlas Institute. Trades that could and had provided Chaldea with advanced technology.

Not all of which was safe.

But those items were monitored and their condition reported directly to her. And she had received no such report of anyone even looking at one of them.

Olga reeled in her wandering thoughts, recognizing that she was concerning herself over matters best dealt with later, and returned back to carving and infusing Dagaz into the rock.

Curse this Singularity and all that had gone wrong with it! She had been pushing herself to make sure this First Order had gone off smoothly and then _this_ had happened!

Her records indicated that the Holy Grail War was supposed to fully start in a few more days as they had taken care to Rayshift into the summoning stage of the Grail War. They had been prepared to force compliance from the overseer if, for any reason, he didn't assist in eliminating the cause of the Singularity.

Instead, they found a Grail War without any Masters and Saber somehow doing necromancy on defeated Servants.

The only upsides in this mess were that the Demi-Servant experiment had finally produced a result and they had one of the last two Servants from the Grail War on their side. In addition, Saber's need for recovery from the exertions of bringing down most of the Servants made it so that this wasn't a hopeless enterprise.

Of course, Olga glanced over to Mash who sitting against the wall as she rested and ate of the food that Ritsuka was handing her, Chaldea's side was recovering too.

But they had a major advantage.

The commoner, Ritsuka.

Saber didn't have a Master. Meaning that she had to bear the brunt of her own upkeep, which was dependent on the high atmospheric mana available to both sides.

And while Mash and Caster shared a Master, no Master in Chaldea would have strained at supporting one Servant, even the complete novice shouldn't. Unless it was a monstrously powerful one like _Heracles!_ And even then, part of FATE's function was to be like the Grail and provide magical energy to the Servant to ease the burden on the Master.

As a result, Olga was confident that Mash, who basically generated most of the energy she needed herself instead of depending solely on the Master, and Caster would be able to be back at full strength before Saber could be.

She glanced one last time at her handle on the two Servants, making sure that he was doing alright.

Was he paler than earlier?

Dagaz finished and imbued, ready for a pulse of prana to trigger, Olga got up from the ashy ground, brushing it off her dress and tights.

If her last Master was not doing adequate maintenance on himself, she would have to make sure he did. Right now, he was all she had and if he pushed himself too hard, then she would lose the Servants too.

"Doctor, are you checking vitals?" she asked, not really trusting that oaf to be doing his job without supervision. "Ritsuka looks paler than usual."

She heard the beep of the comm before the hologram of Roman came out of her communicator.

"Huh? Ah…" The doctor's eyes were running rapidly over the data sheets but she had predicted correctly. He hadn't been keeping an eye on the vitals.

"Yeah, this doesn't look good. It's because of the unexpected Servant contract. His brain isn't accustomed to it," The doctor diagnosed. "His circuits were opened only a few days ago and they are running near at full capacity right now. According to the enlister's notes, Ritsuka only knows how to switch them on and off. He doesn't even know how to use either prana or od."

"This was why I didn't want to use him," Olga snarled under her breath. "A complete novice that doesn't even know how to maintain or prepare himself properly. He'll fail when he's needed most."

"Now, now, Director," The doctor lightly objected to her. "He's doing his best. And with us catching it this early, there shouldn't be any lasting damage to his circuits. We could even call it a warm-up. We'll just have to make sure that he rests as well as Mash before continuing on. Caster is still keeping watch right?"

"Yes," Olga shortly replied. She hadn't liked how this Servant does things. Pointing out her inaptitude as a Master, trying to kill his Master just to bring out a Noble Phantasm without a guarantee of success, and hitting on anything female that moved, it was a wonder that he even had a legend in the first place! "But regardless of Ritsuka doing his best, if he does it incorrectly, it will only do more harm than good."

"True," Archaman acknowledged. "But at least we will have some good in this mess."

"Romani."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

She did not need that slacker to point out how bad the situation was. That a Master who didn't even know how to use his magic circuits was her only tool left.

She was an Animusphere and she would do her best in the circumstances she was given. Even if the situation was more likely to drive her insane before she achieved anything at all.

"Ritsuka!" she barked out in her best command voice as she got to a range where she wouldn't have to yell.

The boy jumped but it was slow. Dozens of precious microseconds passed before he noticed and responded. He really was in poor condition. Why hadn't he told anyone?

Ah, right. Completely untrained novice.

Olga didn't bother to push down the stab of irritation. She had been an elite in her younger days and having to work with an unskilled, untrained, inexperienced, and untalented novice annoyed her.

And she had no need to play nice.

"Why didn't you inform me of your condition?" she demanded as she came to a halt, hands on her hips, in front of him as he and Mash scrambled to their feet. "If you are weakening like this-"

She gestured to his pale complexion and slightly unsteady stance. His eyes were slightly dilated too now that she could get a better look at him.

"-then you should have informed either me or Romani that supporting four Noble Phantasms in a short frame was affecting you. Yes, Kyrielight needed the practice," she waved away his protest before he could even open his mouth. Mash wilted as she realized that Ritsuka had borne the brunt of the energy demand for both her and Caster's Noble Phantasms. "But we are about to go into battle. If you are not in condition to fight, then you should remove yourself from the battlefield now."

The boy blinked at her.

Olga's irritation spiked again.

"Kyrielight!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Mash stood to attention. Good, just as would be expected of one of Chaldea's A team elites.

"Get the Doctor's instructions on what to do," she ordered. She didn't have time to micromanage them. It was Romani's job to look out for their health anyway.

"All right, you'll want some warm tea with lots of honey. He needs sugar, preferably natural-"

Romani's voice continued instructing both Mash and Ritsuka on how to alleviate Ritsuka's condition as Olga returned back to what she was doing. Mash would probably have to get Caster to make some fire. Neither Mash's wind element nor Olga's earth element lend themselves well to heating up water and Caster obviously held a great affinity for fire.

As for the battle ahead, Olga didn't like the need to take a longer break now.

But there wasn't a better choice. They needed to get Ritsuka's energy back up so he could better support his Servants, including their mana recovery rate. Saber was recovering as well, if at a slower rate than Mash and Caster.

It all came down to time. Everything did. Would Saber be able to marshal enough power to force her mad Berserker to hunt them down? Would Saber gather enough strength to fight them off herself?

Or would Chaldea be able to take advantage of Saber's current weakness before the opportunity expired?

If Mash, Caster, and Ritsuka managed to recover enough energy to overpower the powerful Saber, they could rush Saber and defeat her, thus securing the Grail for themselves. And as a nice bonus, they would terminate Berserker Heracles before Saber could overpower his madness and use him like she had the rest of the Servants.

Far more importantly, once they won, Chaldea would be able to find the source of the Singularity, neutralize it, and return in success despite malicious action in the heart of their security.

And it would be under her leadership.

Let the detractors argue against that!

* * *

"All right," Caster said to the group as they gathered around the front gate. "Shouldn't have to say this but everyone's eaten, drunken, pooped and peed? No need for another stop?"

The Olga lady's orange eyes glared at him. Her carried stash of dried fruits had been plundered and most of the scavenged food and water consumed.

But the party was in good condition now. Ritsuka was able to think clearly and looked healthy. And Caster could feel a better flow of energy from him now.

"All right," he shrugged. You had to ask those kinds of things before taking a group of rookies anywhere. Else, it would take _forever_ to arrive. "Let's go!"

He spun around, cloak fluttering around him as he set off down the road to the entrance to the temple.

They had to enter the mountain the proper way, else the spiritual barriers would weaken him and Shielder.

But given that the mountain was protecting the Grail, it made sense for it to be protected against Servants.

But now those same defenses were part of what made Saber like a bear in her cave.

As Caster strode out the gates of the school, three sets of footsteps followed behind him.

Caster grinned.

Finally, this aberration of a Grail War would end!

He was a Servant, a weapon to be used, not to fight on its own like this!

Of course, the rest of his current companions would have more to travel, more to fight through. But that was their path to walk, not his.

He would just serve as a guide for this section before seeing them off to the next step of their grand journey.

After all, in order to be a legend, you had to walk where no one had gone before, where no guides existed.

Because you would be the one to open the trail to the teeming masses of humanity behind you.

He wondered what it would be like. Was this the first part of Mash, Olga, and Ritsuka's legends? Was this the endeavor that made the legend of the red-head who was even now in Chaldea?

Caster let those thoughts slide over him and he left them behind.

It wasn't his business. He had his role to do. They had their paths to make. For now, they coincided. And who knows? They might end up on opposite ends of the battlefield at some point.

If that happened, he would wish them luck but let the best man win!

* * *

As the group left the school, Mash kept her guard up while being conscientious of how much she was drawing from her Master. She shouldn't drain him until he was exhausted again. Also, she had to keep an eye out for Berserker, Archer, Saber, or any more wandering monsters.

At least, that was what she was doing until Olga asked a question.

"Ritsuka, what is Mash's Magic Resistance?" the director asked.

"Magic Resistance?" her Master's confused voice came in reply

Olga audibly sighed. The Director was being a mix of rude enough to sigh to his face but polite enough not to berate-

"Ugh, you just don't know _anything_ do you?"

-Ritsuka like she just did.

"Senpai, Magic Resistance is a skill often found in the Knight classes, Saber, Archer, and Lancer as well as Riders," Mash informed her Senpai. "It grants protection against magical effects but it is different from the normal magus ability to resist magical energy in that it nullifies the spell rather than reject magical energy. A strong Magic Resistance can even cancel the spell outright."

"Oh," Ritsuka said simply as he continued walking down the streets. "So how would you rate your magical resistance?"

"You should at least be able to find that out yourself," Olga complained as she chastised the Master. "You are a Master, you have the authorization to use the your communicator to get a direct report from FATE on the complete abilities of any Servant or Noble Phantasm you know the True Name of."

Out of the corner of her eye, Mash saw Ritsuka move his sleeve back to reveal the communicator on his left wrist and begin to fiddle with it a little.

"Honestly, if you were even half-way trained, you wouldn't even need the communicator to find out a Servant's stats and abilities," Olga grumbled. "No, don't press that button! Do you even know how to read! Hit 'back'. Now, click that one, yes, the one that says 'FATE', aaand that one."

Ritsuka's communicator now was projecting a small hologram with the image of Mash, her class, and her stats. Interestingly, it displayed her True Name as Mash Kyrielight, despite FATE being the system to summon her Heroic Spirit.

But it was displaying her Noble Phantasm as blank. Meaning that despite it having the name of Lord Chaldeas, it wasn't the True Name of her Noble Phantasm. It was just a working title, one meant for her to use but not one that would release the full potential of her Noble Phantasm.

"Um, it says 'A rank'?" Ritsuka read off from the holographic screen after scrolling down to her Class Skills.

Mash had to admit, she was kind of curious as to what skills she had. There were quite a few on that list.

"Impressive," Caster said. "I figured it would be at least B rank after it dispelled that last fireball as soon as it met her. But A rank means that she won't need to worry about any but the best of Casters."

Ritsuka still looked confused.

"A Servant's stats are measured as a category. E rank being the lowest but still about 10 times to 20 times an average or normal human. D rank is about 20 times to 30 times, C rank is about 30 times to 40 times and so on to A rank which is the highest at a minimum of 50 times a normal human. There is also EX rank, but that is specifically for abilities that aren't measurable, like if the stat was simply that overpowering that it can't even be compared to humans or just is strange."

"Ah. But what does that mean for magic resistance or riding?" Ritsuka asked curiously as he read the class skills that Mash had.

"A skill's rank basically determine how much of an effect it has. The rank of a skill like Magic Resistance influences how much it nullifies of a spell, corresponding to the level, magical energy, and the length of an aria for the spell. An E rank magic resistance would only be able to nullify a small portion of a spell but not the spell itself. In terms of practicality, E-rank Magic Resistance would reduce the damage from a similar E rank spell but do almost nothing against a B-rank or C-rank spell."

"And A-rank Magic Resistance means that not even an A rank Mystery, even if it was a full ten count aria or a Greater Ritual, would be able to affect her if she denied it," Olga cut in. "It means that Mash is almost immune to Magecraft. Caster here would be unable to beat Mash without using his Noble Phantasm."

"Yup," Caster admitted cheerfully. "Casters suck by the way. We have to create our own weapons to be able to fight on par with other Servants. Either that or take the loser's way of not fighting a fair fight. But I don't have either the item creation skill or the materials to make a new Gae Bolg so I make due with my runes, staff, and Noble Phantasm."

A distant roar ripped through the night sky, causing the group to freeze at the surprise of hearing something other than each other or the crackle of fire.

"What was that?" Ritsuka asked fearfully.

"Berserker," Caster said grimly. "He still howls his rage. Not sure what set him off this time but he's still pretty far away. We shouldn't have to fight him."

The group, their good spirits quieted by the reminder of their great foe, scurried on up the mountain towards the Greater Grail in silence.

* * *

As the group followed Caster who led them up some stone steps before stepping off into the fire ravaged forest full of ash and burned trees, the group was silent.

Berserker was somewhere in the woods south-west of here. And Archer was somewhere around here.

Neither one was one that they wanted to meet, especially here where the terrain would favor Archer.

That didn't mean they didn't have their own thoughts though.

Ritsuka was still grappling with the revelation after revelation he had just received. That famous people of legends and history could be resurrected as Servants and were trying to kill him. That Mash, the strange young girl who was shaping up to be a good friend, was one of them yet not one of them. A Demi-Servant, not that he was sure what that meant. That magic was real. That wish granting tableware actually existed and in Japan of all places.

Honestly, he would have expected Western Asia due to the myths of the Holy Grail and wish-granting genies originating from there.

And he was also still struggling with the realization that _he could die._ That at any moment, if Mash failed or died, then he would die too.

All in all, it was enough for any man to grapple with.

Olga was considering how to deal with the Association, the U.N., and Chaldea's sponsors. Who she should talk to about what and what the likely effects would be. What would let her keep her Chaldea?

She didn't have time to rest. She had to keep working. She had to get support in refurnishing Chaldea with acceptable and extraordinary geniuses who were reliable enough to actually obey her.

Mash was jittery. She had been a bad draw on her Master's Circuits and Caster's words about her failing and him dying had struck her in her heart.

And in the back of her mind, she was still reeling from the discovery that _Ritsuka admired her_.

Out of all that happened, her becoming a Demi-Servant, her Rayshift into the past without a Coffin, participating in the Grail War, and that Heracles was an opponent if they didn't sneak past him, the most amazing thing to her was that Ritsuka actually admired her.

She couldn't say how much that affected her. She couldn't even comprehend it. The concept was just- foreign to her.

So even as her eyes jumped from place to place, looking for any signs of Archer, Saber or Berserker, Mash resolved to protect her Senpai. To keep him safe from all harm.

And she knew that her resolution would be tested shortly.

* * *

As the group approached the entrance to the cave where the Greater Grail was, Caster kept his senses open for any sign of Archer. You miss him fight once and the next thing you knew, there's a large 'kaboom!' and a hill is gone. Which was what had happened to the hill Archer's Master used to be on.

But Caster had to admit, he was enjoying today. Sure, there were fires and the sky was completely overcast with the smoke from those fires and the sun was down, but still, it was a good day.

He has already had two good fights and was headed for two more with a band of allies at his back.

What more could a guy ask for?

Well a good barrel of ale would be nice but-

Caster's eyes caught something and he held up his arms to stop the group.

The illusion of the cave entrance being stone was still in place. Naught that a moment's work could dispel.

Except there was a hole now. Not a large one but it ran across the entire rock face. And Caster would reckon that the hole was under the illusion too.

Caster made a quick Ansuz rune, emphasizing revealing truth and light rather than fire, and the Bounded Field supporting the illusion vanished.

Caster scanned the revealed opening, eyes narrowed as his suspicions were confirmed. The cave entrance had signs of recent construction. The top of the cave looked like someone had cut their way through solid stone with the resulting rubble scattered across the cave floor. Most of it had been gathered into small piles for a man to stand on while carving the ceiling, probably with swords.

What was Archer and Saber doing?

The Grail informed him that humanity of this time period would either use drills or explosives to expand openings. And the Second Owner would certainly not allow people to enter the cavern complex of the Greater Grail, magus or otherwise.

Heck, part of the Bounded Field was meant to repel people without circuits from going near the entrance.

The only options left was that a magus, who before vanishing with the rest of the world, had decided to expand on a secret area that only the Three Families would have known of-

-or the Servants felt that the height of the cave was insufficient for their purposes. But it looked like it had been two meters tall before one of them started to start carving. Why would they need to expand it closer to three? And in the middle of a Grail War?

Caster stared into the cave, hoping for something to reveal itself. Some clue to reveal the path of his enemies.

"What is it?" Ritsuka asked, fear in his wide eyes.

"Someone's been here," Caster responded tersely, his mind focused on trying to read the actions of his foes. As far as he could see, the rubble from the ceiling covered the ground, all the way back to where the tunnel curved, after which he couldn't see anything.

So the construction was deep. Were they trying to move something large to the Grail?

And he couldn't hear anything that sounded like ongoing construction either. All was quiet. Except for a recent bellow of Berserker's grief, rage and madness from the nearby forest.

Heracles certainly had a pair of healthy lungs if they were able to hear him from here.

"Of course someone's been here!" Olga hissed. "This is where Saber is!"

"No, Saber couldn't do this. She's too short," Caster replied, mind focused on what Archer was trying to do by doing this. And where that man was. "Only Archer could have done this. But there is no reason for Archer to do this. The man is tall, but not _this_ tall."

Archer was just under two meters tall, and dwarfed Saber by at least a head. And right now, Saber would need to stand on tip toes and reach to touch the ceiling with the tip of her sword. And even without the construction, Saber's sword wouldn't have been slowed down by the ceiling. Excalibur would just carve through it like it was air.

There just was no point to making this.

Which made Caster worried.

But if Archer was who Caster thought he was, he might have a Noble Phantasm that could need this much room. Weren't tanks or artillery around that size?

But if so, then why hadn't the Shadow Servants used a single Noble Phantasm? Assassin could have used his Noble Phantasm in their ambush. Lancer had a Noble Phantasm or two which could have reversed their fight on the bridge.

Lancer's Benkei Butsu Noble Phantasm alone could have allowed Benkei to block the fireball that Caster had used to incinerate the former Servant. That Noble Phantasm manifests one to seven copies of Lancer who could have taken the fireball in his place.

But Lancer hadn't. He could have invoked his Noble Phantasm to block the fireball as it was too close for him to dodge but not too close that he couldn't block. And even earlier than that, Lancer could have used his Pilgramage of the Five Hundred Arhat Noble Phantasm to kill everyone. Shielder could have survived maybe but for the Master and the magus, it would have been almost impossible to escape the Noble Phantasm that forcibly dragged people along with the pilgrimage of five hundred Buddhists on their coffin-like boats to the Pure Land, never to return.

No, in all the battles Caster had seen and fought in, not one Servant had used a Noble Phantasm after Saber killed them.

Maybe Caster was missing something? Was Archer special and got a loophole?

Caster wished that Archer's legend gave some details on what Noble Phantasm he had, but the probable Counter Guardian didn't have a legend. Without a legend, Caster had to make assumptions about what was available to the enemy.

What could need 2-3 meters?

Caster didn't know, there was just too many options in this modern era but he figured that it probably wouldn't be good.

"Is it a trap?" Ritsuka asked, brows furled in puzzlement. "Should we wait out here then? Or is there a back door?"

"No, this is the only way to the Greater Grail. Unless the young lady has another Noble Phantasm that can dig through a mountain?" Caster cocked an eye at the small Demi-Servant.

"U-Um," the girl stuttered. "I don't know?"

She took a breath before continuing. "I don't think I have another Noble Phantasm but isn't having multiple Noble Phantasms a mark of a great Servant?"

"Nah," Caster disagreed. "The two most powerful Servants in this war were Berserker and Saber. And they only had one Noble Phantasm apiece when they clashed. The others have more Noble Phantasms and are trickier to fight. I saw Archer use something like five or so."

Archer's Noble Phantasms included a missile that had a resemblance to Caladborg, his twin scimitars of Kanshou and Bakuya, some sort of seeking-missile-thing, and a shield. And then there was that anti-Thautomolagy Noble Phantasm that Archer had pulled out to smash through his barrage of fireballs when they had fought in the school yard before the Singularity started.

Right before Archer's younger self had come and Caster had pursued him to-

Aaaah, shoot.

He had played right into Archer's hands back then, hadn't he? Recreated Archer's past onto Archer's younger self and all.

Here he had been smug that he managed to force a draw with the guy despite a bad match-up…

"Five!" Olga yelped. "Almost no Servant has _five_ Noble Phantasms! It is rare to encounter one with more than two! Who is Archer?"

"A Servant without a legend," Caster replied. "Someone who will create his legend in the future. Or, more accurately, is creating his legend right now, both now before the Singularity and in Chaldea's time."

No need to give spoilers. A path was to be journeyed on, its pleasures to discover and its hardships to endure. He was a druid, not a bard. And as a druid, he couldn't do the journey in their place. It simply was his role to make sure that they can walk the path and help them on it. As Chaldea's guide, he would give them the warning but not the discovery.

Olga, Mash, and Ritsuka blinked in surprise. In Chaldea, Roman and most of the workers also were stunned.

A modern-day Servant?

"Impossible," Olga snapped. "Heroic Spirits can't be created in the modern era much less-"

"That's wrong you know," Caster remarked. "Oh sure they don't have nearly as many Noble Phantasms and they tend to be a tad weaker than older Heroic Spirits, but new Heroic Spirits and Counter Guardians are formed all the time. Archer here is not so strong but he is a very, very tricky fighter. Definitely capable of holding his own among us."

No, he was not smarting over being manipulated like that by Archer. The jerk.

"Really?" Mash asked, wide-eyed. "There are new Heroic Spirits? But Lord Tellintroth of the Clock Tower said in his rebuttal to Animusphere's 1935 "Discourse on Servants" that the lack of Noble Phantasms in modern society means that no new Heroic Spirits can form."

"And who are you going to trust?" Caster snorted in amusement and increasing boredom with this line of conversation. "This Tellintroth guy who doesn't have a link to the Throne of Heroes or me? There have been several heroes formed in the last few centuries alone. A lot of them are men of science such as Da Vinci, Edison, and Tesla but several monarchs, soldiers, warriors, and assassins have ascended to the Throne. They just need to be famous enough that people write them down in the history books and tell their stories from generation to generation."

"But that doesn't work as a distinguishing factor," the white-haired lady replied in a huff. "There are confirmed Heroic Spirits that wouldn't have inspired anyone such as Assassins and there are some people who inspired millions but aren't Heroic Spirits. The qualifications for being a Heroic Spirit ought to be if a person left a mark to inspire people."

"Eh, don't sweat the small stuff," Caster shrugged it off. Did it really matter what made a Heroic Spirit a Heroic Spirit? Either you were one or you weren't. After that, it was all academic.

The lady huffed but quieted down.

Finally. Magus tend to be very prickly if you disagreed with them and they were wrong. And until you did, they just yakked and yakked and yakked.

And he needed quiet to listen for Archer.

But the only Servant he could hear was Berserker, his cries and lamentations echoing through the forest up to the mountain.

"All right, let's get going," Caster said as he came to a decision. "We don't want to be out in the open with Archer around. Not that he is any easier to fight in close combat, but we'll stand a better chance at retaliating."

"Why is that?" Ritsuka asked. "Wouldn't archers be easier to fight in close combat?"

"The guy is able to class as a Saber with his swords and he was good enough to hold back against me earlier in the war. Probably could even pull off a Shielder or Caster if he wanted," Caster said as he walked forward, the rest following behind him. "Not sure about the other classes, but the lack of information I have on him indicates that Archer might even be summonable under Assassin. Probably a sniper type of Assassin."

"So whatever you do, don't let down your guard Shielder," he concluded. "If you aren't ready to protect your Master or the lady at a moment's notice, they'll get an arrow smack between the eyes."

"What about yourself Caster?" Mash asked, face serious.

It was rather cute. Like a child trying to wear their father's shoes and armor.

"I have Divine Protection from Arrows," he said dismissively. "He'll have to pull out a powerful long range Noble Phantasm to even hurt me. And I don't think he can after Saber killed him. Even if he could, he won't with the mountain and the Grail as collateral damage."

"Then by all means, let's go!" Olga snapped as she hurried forward and out of the open space. "I didn't come this far only to die to a simple arrow!"

The group picked up the pace, running into the cave and away from where Archer could pull out his most dangerous Noble Phantasms if he still had them.

Caster paused right before entering the cave and looked back over the burning city with Berserker loud roars in the background.

They didn't have a better option but here they were, diving headfirst into Archer's trap. Better to spring the trap early than to give him the time to put the finishing touches on it.

Caster didn't know what Archer was going to do, but if he had decided to switch over to construction work in preparation after Shielder came, it probably wasn't going to be good.

* * *

Mash looked around her in slight consternation.

The group had been walking through the cave complex for several minutes now. Archer's demolition of the ceiling had stopped about two twists of the corridor back, relieving the group that Archer was out of position for his trap.

But Mash was realizing something now that Archer's work had stopped.

The cave walls, the facility for the Greater Grail, looked like they hadn't been carved out. In fact, they resembled some of the caves that she had seen in the simulation room when the Masters had been training for underground investigations.

"This place looks like a natural cave," the girl pointed out, "Did this always exist in Fuyuki City?"

Olga nodded once as she eyed the walls herself.

"Probably, it's half natural, half man-made. It's an underground workshop that was expanded by mages over a number of years." The oldest human present clicked her tongue before dismissing the walls and turning towards Caster. "Anyway, Caster. I forgot to ask you something important. Do you know Saber's True Name? It sounded like you'd fought several times."

"Yeah, I know it," Caster frowned at the unpleasant memories. "Anyone who gets hit by Saber's Noble Phantasm will find out her True Name. The other Servants were all defeated because Saber's Noble Phantasm was that powerful."

"A powerful Noble Phantasm, is it?" Mash turned to look at Caster in curiosity. What Noble Phantasm could be strong enough to take out Heracles as Berserker? It had to be at least an A rank Noble Phantasm and Noble Phantasms were almost in their own league in the ranking system. "What was it like?"

"You should know. It's was the boy's Servant," Caster walked on silently for a bit before answering. "No one? Really?"

"I've already called Shirou up to the command center for this final part of the First Order," Roman popped in as Olga's communicator started projecting the blue toned hologram. "He's on his way now."

"You are doing this without consulting the assistance of a local?" Caster raised his eyebrow skeptically.

"Shirou is our only technician," Roman protested half-heartedly, obviously agreeing somewhat with Caster. "He and the other mechanically inclined are running around trying to fix the most important things that are too hard for everyone else to do. He's too important for us to have him sit in a chair up here all the time!"

A low grumble echoed into Roman's mic and the man winced as he managed to step on the pride of every magus in the room with him.

"So that was why his workshop had so many machines," Caster mused out loud. "I thought it was strange that he had so many projections and modern devices side by side in there."

Mash started. Caster had been into Mr. Emiya's workshop!? That was a major surprise. Even in Chaldea, a magus rarely allowed anyone into their private workshop.

Oh wait, Caster had fought Mr. Emiya. Mr. Emiya had probably retreated to his workshop for some Mystic Code or such and Caster had followed him in.

Caster shrugged, putting aside. "Welp, it is the sister sword of the Sword in the Stone. It's the most famous sacred sword in your time period. Its name…"

"No way!" Mr. Emiya yelled, the communicator popping up and spitting out a hologram of him, standing mid-way on the stairs, evidentially having just arrived in the command center. "Saber would never do this!"

"Coming from you who had the dream cycle, _that_ is rich. But regardless of the near utter worthlessness of your opinion, this isn't _your_ Saber right now."

A strong, male, but somewhat familiar voice came from behind them, causing Mash to whirl around in surprise, chastising herself for not noticing someone sneaking up on them.

Behind her stood a tall man, arms crossed, black mist bleeding off of him. Yet despite the black mist puffing out to hide him, Mash saw a drop of blood drip down from left arm held at his side and fall to the ground before puffing away in a cloud of smoke.

"Arrrcherrr-" Mr. Emiya growled as he stared at the Shadow Servant.

"But yes, her Noble Phantasm is the Sword of Promised Victory, Excalibur." The man said as he disregarded the technician in Chaldea who was glaring at him. "Wielded by King Arthur, the proud King of Knights."

Mash gasped even as she heard Olga and Ritsuka gasp behind her.

King Arthur. And Excalibur.

She couldn't believe it!

She was actually going to see King Arthur, the legendary king of Camelot and King of Knights!

She was so excited!

She would get to meet him- no, her wasn't it? Mr. Emiya and Archer both referred to Saber as female. Which to be honest, was a large shock to the Demi-Servant. To think that the paragon of chivalry had been hiding her gender…

Oh, and Mash was going to have to fight her, wasn't she?

Mash was going to face King Arthur. As Saber. With only a Caster as an ally and a Noble Phantasm without a True Name.

Saber, who had almost won a Grail War by herself with the only one to escape was Caster.

Mash swallowed hard.

Oh, this was going to go really bad. Could she even protect against Excalibur?

"Move, move, move!" Mash heard Olga hiss as the sound of two pairs of feet scampered behind her. Mash turned to glance back, seeing Olga start to push Ritsuka who quickly joined her in running to hide behind a large rock, Fou at their feet.

Oh good. If Archer was anything like some of the faster ranged fighters that A-Team had faced in the simulation training, good cover would do a lot to help them survive any shots that Mash couldn't block if Archer managed to get a clear shot.

Those simulations had been initially quite frightening as their opponents were surprisingly devasting if you couldn't use cover or protection against them.

With her Master and friend now safe behind cover, Mash was glad for her shield that dwarfed her. She could easily hide behind it and prevent Archer from hitting any part of her.

He was a Heroic Spirit of the Bow. He probably could shoot the wings off a fruit fly at a hundred paces.

Mash would expect no less than that from an Archer Servant.

"Well, look who it is," Caster taunted Archer. "I didn't expect one such as you to decide to be a mere follower."

"I don't recall becoming the follower of anyone," Archer rebutted, the clouds of black mist hiding his expression although he looked like he was staring at the hologram coming from Olga's projector. "I am just here to bring the mastiff to heel and chase away unwanted visitors."

"HEY!" Caster yelled.

"I'm sorry, did I offend you?" Archer insincerely apologized. "Would you like some roasted hound? I'm sure I could have a dish whipped up in just a bit. You could even provide the fire. Or the meat. The guard dog is more valuable than you after all."

 _Ugh._ Mash grimaced as she remembered one of Caster's titles, the Hound of Ireland, and the geas that he had taken to not eat any meat from a dog after the incident when he promised to be like a man's guard dog to pay for killing the dog in a fight. _Disgusting. Who would want to eat dog?_ She had never seen one before but the photos of puppies that she had seen were very cute.

And to insult Caster like that… _Is this what Heroic Spirits are really like?_

"Oy. And you think you can beat the pair of us?" Caster narrowed his eyes as he challenged the other long-range combatant. "Let's just end this here and now and move the pieces forward."

"From the way you talk, I think you understand the circumstances but aren't explaining it to anyone," Mash could barely discern from the black mist Archer's head shifting from staring between Caster and the hologram of Mr. Emiya. "Yet you are still absorbed by your own desires…"

Archer trailed off, obviously contemplating something.

"Well, I'll just have to knock some sense into you and hope that it reaches the idiot over there," Archer concluded as his hands moved away to suddenly grab a pair of black and white scimitars that lacked his misty obscuring cloud but still bore the feeling of powerful magical artifacts. "Knowing you both, I'll have to make this as hard as I can to pound it through the rocks you use as skulls."

"You and me both, buddy," Caster said, slamming his staff into the rock floor. "I'm going to enjoy beating you after that bit of clever trickery you pulled at the schoolyard."

"Hey, young lady!" Caster yelled suddenly. "Deploy your Noble Phantasm now! You don't want him to have a straight line at ya! He can project weapons so he's never unarmed!"

Mash started at the sudden yell but quickly released her Noble Phantasm, slamming her shield into the ground as she yelled "Lord Chaldeas!"

Only for her eyes to widen as she saw Lord Chaldeas form with a thrown sword stuck in the middle of the shield Noble Phantasm, sword tip suddenly less than a mere meter from her face.

Archer had thrown his sword?

Mash couldn't think of any Heroic Spirit that had thrown their sword in their legend but hadn't Caster said that Archer was a Heroic Spirit from the future?

The sword broke into shards of black and blue mana, followed by the two other swords which were aimed at both Olga and Ritsuka until they had hit the shield.

That was close. A second later and the first sword might have hit her. And the others would have hit her Senpai and friend.

But the way the sword had dissolved… Was the sword a projection? Not a Noble Phantasm but an illusionary construct of a powerful Mystic Code? Was that even possible?

Mash wondered why someone worthy of legend and fame would choose to use fake weapons but then again, she was a Demi-Servant, which could be compared to a man-made fake Servant depending on your definition and interpretation of Demi-Servants. And using projected missiles would definitely save on the cost of ammunition for Archer.

But Mash didn't have time to ponder this.

Archer was already moving, dashing around the edge of her Noble Phantasm while Caster's fingers flew around, drawing runes to prepare for Archer's assault.

In the scant two seconds since the fighting started, the Archer Servant had dashed from the curve of the cave behind them to the edge of the shield.

And right before he stepped out, Caster let the runes flash and send a round of fire forward.

Archer couldn't stop or backpedal in time before the fire would reach him.

Instead, the already dead and defeated Servant brought up the new copies of the Mystic Codes he was holding before the fire was upon him.

Mash's Servant level eyes adjusted to the brightness of the fire in time to widen.

Archer was dancing among the fireballs.

His two swords were batting away fireballs like they were rubber balls instead of deadly spheres of flame and what fire he didn't dodge, dispelled upon hitting him.

Caster's runes were insufficient to harm him. Caster would need more time to invoke more powerful spells that could overcome his Magic Resistance.

Time that only Mash could give him.

* * *

"Tch!" Caster clicked his tongue as he realized why Archer had favored using those swords against him. The Married Swords of Bakuya and Kanshou, a pair of Noble Phantasms meant to be wielded together, raised the physical resistance and magical resistance of their wielder.

And Caster had only invoked C level runes against Archer. With Archer's now C level Magic Resistance, the runes were insufficient to harm him as long as he kept both swords in hand.

In order to overcome it, Caster needed to either disarm him or throw B level runes at him.

The problem was that he would need something like four seconds to pour enough power into a series of rune glyphs to get it up to B level.

If he was as good as his teacher, Caster could have used one hand to write a sequence of runes to keep him busy while his other hand crafted a rune spell strong enough to blast through his magic resistance.

But Caster wasn't at that lofty heights of runes. He could only work on one rune at time, even if his speed at making runes allowed him to produce several in a second.

His teacher had painfully drilled that speed into him.

Okay, what other options did he have?

To fire off his Noble Phantasm would take almost as long as writing out a B level rune. Time that Archer wasn't going to allow him. And the low tunnel would collapse on everyone before the Wicker Man could finish emerging.

But time definitely looked like the bigger concern as the sword wielding Archer was moving straight towards him.

Until the young lady charged at Archer, forcing the swordsman to spin around and focus on her.

Caster let the fireballs stop. With their levels of Magic Resistance, he might as well be shining a lightbulb into their eyes. Besides, the young lady hadn't dismissed her Noble Phantasm and it was now interposed between him and the two Servants.

Besides, Caster needed to concentrate on making something strong enough to kill Archer. His Noble Phantasm was too big for this small tunnel.

Hand weaving through the air, Caster focused his magical power onto the runes emphasizing power and strength as he poured his energy into the construct.

Good thing the kid was rested up. This was going to take a small chuck of Caster's reserves.

Caster kept an eye on the fight as Archer overwhelmed Shielder.

The girl wasn't bad, she just didn't have the skill and experience to overcome Archer's fast paced aggressive fighting style. And skilled dual wielders had the unfair advantage of being to strike in two places at the same time, much harder for a single large shield to block.

Especially as Archer was much taller than the young lady with longer arms which granted him a large area in which he could strike.

It was all the girl could do to make sure that Archer's questing arms couldn't reach over her shield and stab her in the head.

But she was managing to hold her own-

Caster almost winced as Archer finally maneuvered Shielder out of her stance and into a bad one. One that Archer ruthlessly exploited by bringing up a foot and kicking her shield back, even as his arms snapped to the sides, throwing the blades around both sides of the big shield mirroring Mash's smaller one, which she resolutely was still holding onto.

Archer on the other hand, used the kick to propel him towards the edge of the shield, intent on getting around it and to Caster before he could invoke the runes.

All of which had transpired in about two seconds.

Oh yeah, Archer's skills included Eye of the Mind. He could plan out the battle and predict their moves before coming up with an optimal solution.

An annoying skill that Archer had achieved through nothing less than less than surviving a large amount of battle experience.

Caster knew that the swords were nothing less than an attempt to buy time. Time in which Archer could use to get in close and fight where Caster's Protection from Arrows would not be able to protect him from Archer's projectiles.

Caster's Protection from Arrows urged him to fire off the runes to stop the two projectiles. And the Shadow Servant's hands were empty now, meaning that his magic resistance had dropped again.

Caster changed the next few runes he was writing, causing the spell to fire off early at C rank rather than B, aimed straight at the empty-handed Archer.

Only for Archer to suddenly be holding the two swords again, raising his Magic Resistance to be immune to C rank magecraft just before the fireballs hit.

Oh come on! Caster complained in his mind. The two flying swords still arching towards him, pulled by their attractive properties towards one another and their momentum forward. Shouldn't the guy only have one iteration of a Noble Phantasm!

Actually, Caster realized as his hand holding the staff swung up and knocked away the two swords, these swords were weaker than when they had first fought.

They were still C ranked but now they were barely C ranked, hovering just above D rank instead of their earlier solid C rank.

Which means that something had changed.

Caster's mind flew down the possible paths even as his hand started writing runes again mid-air, other hand ready to engage Archer in melee combat with his staff.

What could have done it? If Saber had given Archer back the Noble Phantasms when she rezzed him, Archer's shouldn't have suffered any drop in power.

And then a memory flashed into Caster's mind, some of the teachings of his teacher as she discussed how she had created Gae Bolg before she realized that he was nodding off to sleep. She hadn't been appreciative of that as the following pop training session showed. And now he wished he had paid attention as he could have used the Item Creation Skill to make himself a new spear in this Grail War.

But returning to his stroke of inspiration, what if Archer's Noble Phantasm wasn't a bunch of weapons?

What if Archer's Noble Phantasm was production of other Noble Phantasms?

A Noble Phantasm to make Noble Phantasms.

If so, that would explain how Archer had so many Noble Phantasms and why they didn't match up to legend. The weapons weren't Archer's Noble Phantasm. They were a creation of Archer's Noble Phantasm. And the information on Noble Phantasms from the Grail would not include it as the Grail only gave summaries of Servants, not details and only if your already known information included a True Name.

Which means that right now, Archer didn't have his Noble Phantasm, whatever it was. Instead, Archer was just using his skills, which probably were the real life skills that had earned him that creation type Noble Phantasm, to bypass his lack of a Noble Phantasm and create the weapon Noble Phantasms without using the creation Noble Phantasm.

Probably his Clairvoyance skill combined with Magecraft skill and all the extremely well-done projections that Shirou had had in his workshop shed.

After all, magecraft was a way to imitate and reproduce what used to be miracles.

It wasn't quite that exact, but the Servant summoning ritual was a product of magecraft not True Magic. So, whatever a Servant did should have a way to accomplish in reality, even if that method in reality was incredibly unlikely or not able to be done nearly as efficiently, quickly or powerfully as a Servant could.

Caster didn't care much. He was a Caster but that was because you didn't say "No" to Scathach when she decided to teach you something.

But if Archer's mortal self had managed to find a way to use modern magecraft to reproduce the effects of Noble Phantasms, then Archer probably had just fallen back onto that method instead of using his Noble Phantasm.

Cu Chulainn grinned.

As he told Chaldea, Heroic Spirits and Counter Guardians were still being formed in this era as well as in times of old. They weren't as strong power wise when compared to heroes from the Age of Gods but they could still hold their own.

The main advantage they had was that they got access to almost everything that their ancestors had learned.

Reproduction of ancient feats was something that definitely seemed characteristic of a modern Heroic Spirit, with modern era being so focused on discovering laws and engineering mass production methods to make what was once incredible now ordinary.

Case in point, flight. Back in his day, you had to have had a very good relationship with a magus or god or in order to fly through the air. Well, unless you were thrown by someone really strong. Which was hilarious to watch by the way.

But his Master had kept an eye on a nearby airport where dozens of flying machines landed daily, each carrying what could be a small village's worth of people.

And she had called it a _small_ airport. Meaning that there were airports out there that probably had entire _cities_ worth of people flying into and out from there every single day.

Archer might have used the abundance of information in this age to accomplish his feat.

Now armed with information on his mysterious foe, Caster was a step up from earlier in the Grail War.

Archer must be one of those dangerous pioneer types. The original kind of person, who didn't need to depend on his Noble Phantasm to be dangerous because their Noble Phantasm wasn't a gift from someone even stronger. Such as Scathach, himself, and Gae Bolg. Caster would never be able to beat Teacher partly because she taught him everything he knew. Archer might be the same and be the someone even stronger.

At least Archer wasn't Scathach. The Grail War would already be over if she was a participant.

Having reached a conclusion, Caster reviewed the information he was using. Archer must have had a Noble Phantasm but lost it when Saber killed and revived him. However, the man was good enough with his skills that he could skip the Noble Phantasm. But since Archer was the origin of his Noble Phantasm, Archer would be capable of reaching it again given time and resources.

The man _had_ to be proud of a feat like that and the kid probably was working on it back in the future. But given his pragmatic fighting style, Archer had kept quiet about it in order to deny him, the Caster with superior magecraft abilities, a way to counter it.

A tricky fighter for a tough fight but Cu Chulainn knew how to beat people like that.

Hard work and guts.

Caster also reckoned that if he had, say, a day or so, he could come up with something that would dispel or transform the Noble Phantasm projections back into either ether or mana. Would have been harder against the Noble Phantasm production line thingy but given enough time in his Territory, Caster thinks that he could have made the territory created by his B-ranked Class Skill, Territory Creation, hostile to the products of Archer's Noble Phantasm.

But Archer, who was now less than 3 meters away, swords held at the ready, was unlikely to give him even five seconds, much less the time to establish a Territory.

Caster's grin widened. This would be a good fight! His Caster class restrained his desire for combat and encouraged a more mental and spiritual form of conflict but Archer was a good foe for that too!

"HRRAGH!" Mash yelled as her shield, held over her head, came down towards Archer as she jumped from the other side of the room.

Shielder probably used her high Strength stat to get a good kick off from the wall that Archer had kicked her into.

Archer swerved aside, another sword thrown into the air towards her unarmored legs. Shielder hastily brought her shield down to block it, repelling the sword.

Then Shielder landed, knees crouched to absorb the force. And immediately spun around, causing the other sword striking towards her undefended arm to scratch along her armor.

And Archer's empty hand dropped towards her head, bar of light in his hands quickly shimmering into a replica of a Noble Phantasm.

But she hoisted her shield up, barely making it in time to block the sudden deadly weapon.

Only for Archer to drop to the ground, blades chucked towards Caster, as his empty hands grabbed her shield and one leg swept towards Shielder's.

Shielder tried to backpedal but it was too late and Archer too fast. He grabbed the blunt edges of the shield with his bare hands even as his leg swept Shielder's out from under her.

And then in a few quick jerky movements he wrenched the shield away from both of Shielder's hands and threw it down the tunnel.

* * *

 _Antarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

Shirou watched as the Servant he knew the least about completely overwhelmed and outclassed Mash Kyrielight.

"That's a Heroic Spirit from the future?" Lyra Hook hissed from her station. "Root, he's brutal."

"Yeah," Shirou replied tightly. "He managed to hold off Berserker and kill him several times."

But that was all Shirou knew about Archer. The man had an understanding of Projection that was almost professional.

And Shirou couldn't understand Kanshou and Bakuya's history with Archer, not really. He subconsciously had copied the blades from when he had first seen Archer wield them and over the years, Shirou had analyzed their history, but nowhere in the Married Blades history had Archer ever laid his hands on the blades.

Instead, what Shirou got was that they had existed near each other in some form of storage room or museum until suddenly they had some runes and wards carved into them in a completely different place and time, improving their capabilities as dangerous Noble Phantasms. After that, the blades were placed into the ground in some space not quite on Earth but not quite completely separate from the outermost texture either. Then without being drawn from the ground, a copy is made and they jump time and space again as they are projected into reality, ready to fall into Archer's hands.

Yet Archer fought like he had been using them for years, despite lacking any history with them.

Archer had been mysterious like that. Shirou got more information off of Medea's Rule Breaker and he had only seen her alive for less than two minutes before Gilgamesh killed her.

But with Caster's information, Shirou could guess that somehow Archer had stumbled upon or had been taught the exact same branch of magecraft that Shirou was discovering. The art of tracing, projection, alteration, and reinforcement that drew strength from the system of thaumatology based off of Unlimited Blade Works (Rin's words, not his).

Probably meant that Archer had learned it from Rin or one of her descendants. Shirou didn't have an apprentice, probably never would, and Rin was the only other person to have learned how to do tracing. She had practiced it until she could take projection to a level beyond other magus (namely Luvia Edelfelt) but she still needed the object she was copying nearby so she could directly feed a structural analysis into the projection.

Shirou noted to tell Rin to be careful about who she taught tracing to. Yeah, Shirou had to admit (grudgingly, he still didn't like that arrogant man)[MS1] that Archer was a good person. Not everyone would sacrifice themselves so that his Master and another Servant-Master pair could escape from Berserker.

But it kind of irritated him that Archer was using the same branch of magecraft that Shirou did.

Was this the feeling of pride that Rin had spoken about?

Shirou didn't have pride, or he thought he hadn't.

But this stinging emotion wasn't jealousy or envy. He had felt those before and they felt different than this irritation.

Maybe he just wanted vengeance on the guy who believed that Saber would be part of something as horrifying as this. Saber wouldn't have done that. But this feeling didn't match what Shirou had heard people describe wanting revenge like.

More like he didn't want to share with him. Or that Shirou's usual generous nature didn't want to extend itself to Archer.

For some reason, Shirou just couldn't bring himself to approve of Archer.

But since Archer was from the future, that meant that Shirou wasn't following Archer. Instead Archer had followed Shirou. That made Shirou feel somewhat better about all this. But he was still annoyed that he had someone like Archer who had learned from him.

Shirou could accept making the magecraft that Archer had learned and used much better than he could accept that he owed that guy for pioneering his magecraft. Even with the tip that Archer had given him.

But, as Shirou watched Caster pause crafting his runes long enough to attack Archer with his staff so that Mash could roll from her disadvantageous position towards her shield, Archer obviously was several steps beyond Shirou in that field of magecraft.

He could barely read the history of the Married Swords right now but from what he saw in the projected video from the Singularity, Archer was projecting them without Unlimited Blade Works. He was just using pure memory and experience to trace copies that Shirou's skills could only manage with Unlimited Blade Works.

"Okay, Shirou," Roman said tightly, voice and mind obviously strained as he watched the girl he was parentally affectionate towards narrowly escape from a dangerous Servant who had easily disarmed her. "We are up against Archer. What do you know about him? Is he the same from your Grail War?"

"Yes," Shirou said confidently. "He is the same Archer. But he was the only Servant whose True Name and abilities I don't know. All I know is that his favored swords are Kanshou and Bakuya and that he was strong enough to kill Berserker several times."

"What?" Roman said, surprised as he turned to Shirou. "How did a Servant from the future manage to hold up against Heracles of all people?"

"Pure swordsmanship combined with the ability to project Noble Phantasms, I think," Shirou answered slowly, trying to recall what Illya had said about Archer. "Archer had at least six different weapons, each A ranked. But no one ever learned his True Name. Even Berserker's Master never learned it despite seeing his Noble Phantasms."

"What?" Roman asked, completely startled. "How can you not know a Servant's name after seeing their Noble Phantasm? Knowing one leads to knowing the other."

"I don't know," Shirou honestly answered. Rin said she didn't know. Illya hadn't known. And Archer's projections didn't say what Archer's name was. And no one else who had met Archer had survived the Grail War. "Illya- I mean, Berserker's Master said that he matched Berserker and had an unknown identity. He didn't use any active Noble Phantasm abilities, just used their status as A rank Noble Phantasms to hurt and kill Berserker. Then she enraged Archer's Master and they got to squabbling again."

Shirou wasn't ashamed of his relation to Illya but Rin had warned him to keep it on the lowdown. Apparently, the Eiznbern were some sort of big name in homunculus production. Simply buying a single one cost a fortune and many magus could try to exhume Illya's grave in hopes of learning something about the Eiznbern secrets.

Rin had also mentioned something about them going after Shirou's life but that wasn't important.

Shirou watched as Caster managed to use his staff to block Archer's strikes, wielding it not too differently than how he had used Gae Bolg defensively. Occasionally Caster threw in a strike meant to crush one of Archer's limbs or his head but Archer always blocked or avoided them.

The stalemate continued until Mash managed to get to her shield and pick it up again. Before running back into the fray.

"So anything we can use against him?" Roman asked, frustration evident in his voice. "They are barely holding their own right now!"

"Um," Shirou racked his mind. What could beat Archer?

Archer's legend and weaknesses was hidden from everyone.

Shirou could imagine a weapon to beat Archer but given that it had been Archer to teach that to him, Shirou would venture that Archer would imagine a weapon to beat that weapon until Shirou imagined a weapon to beat the new one and it would just continue on and on.

But Caster and Mash couldn't do that. All they had was their skills and Noble Phantasms.

"He's not very good at grappling," Tom Nawakowski spoke up.

Shirou and Roman turned to him.

"When he twisted the shield out from Mash's grip, he did so by a rather crude method," Nawakowski explained, his eyes still focused on the screen where Archer was controlling the flow of battle such that Caster and Mash were barely avoiding getting into each other's way. "It wasn't well done, more like it was something that he had seen done once and imitated from memory. So if they could disarm him or fight him without his weapons, he should fall pretty quickly."

"He can't be disarmed," Hooke sniffed. "Remember? Caster said that he projects his weapons. Probably why he keeps on throwing them before they break down naturally. Not a bad method for an Archer who needs disposable weapons. His foes can't use them against him because they'll break down too fast."

"Oh yeah," Nawakowski said. "Any idea if he would accept a challenge to hand-to-hand fight or a brawl without weapons?"

"He is extremely pragmatic," Shirou said, calling upon his memories of his and Archer's few short talks and the fights Archer had fought in front of Shirou. "He and Saber didn't like each other because he viewed honor as a thing that would get in your way."

"So we could strike at the bonds connecting him to his Master?" Roman asked, interested at having something they could do.

"Not when Saber is doing necromancy on him," John Erwing rebutted. "He can't break away from her will since she could just sever the flow of energy to him."

Shirou accepted the word of the first generation magus. Shirou hadn't studied necromancy.

"But Archer has Independent Action," Hooke pointed out. "He can survive without a source for a limited time. Long enough to make a contract with Ritsuka at least."

"But that would be if he was a normal Servant," Erwing replied. "He's already been slain by Saber so having her stop her necromancy would just return him to a state of death as his Spirit Origin is already disrupted."

The silence indicated that no one had considered that obvious fact.

Shirou certainly hadn't. He hadn't even known about Spirit Origins until he was reading papers about Servants and Heroic Spirits.

Shirou winced as Archer pounced on one of Mash's mistakes again. Archer was being plain brutal on the poor girl. He kept on finding new and different weaknesses and using them to nearly kill her. Only the fact that Caster could supply pressure with just his staff while his runes floated behind the group kept the young girl alive.

But the wounds were accumulating on both Caster and Mash. A cut here, a slice there. Caster's robes had nearby been cut in two as barely dodged a slice from Bakuya.

And they hadn't even landing a telling blow on Archer. Mash was slower than Archer while Caster was about just as fast. But Caster lacked the strength to make a telling blow and had to cover Mash. Meanwhile, Archer was just avoiding all of Mash's blows or blocking such that the force didn't transmit well.

If Shirou had to guess, Archer was faster than Mash but weaker in strength. Meanwhile, he was as fast as Caster but Caster was weak enough that Archer didn't have to worry about the strength of his blows.

But Archer was using Caster's need to protect Mash against them. He would feint a strike at Mash only to strike instead at Caster. And every once in a while, he would make a potshot at Fujimaru and Animusphere. He couldn't do it often as managing the two Servants required his constant attention but he was controlling the flow of battle much better than Mash and Caster were.

Archer probably figured that he could deal with Mash solo without risk. But Caster was a danger to him.

All Archer needed to do to win was to kill Caster. Once Caster was down, the others would soon follow. They wouldn't be able to harm him and Mash just couldn't win against Archer. Only her high Endurance was keeping her in the fight as a normal human would have bled and weakened from her numerous cuts.

"The only thing that could let them win is if Caster can finish his runes," Shirou concluded. "If he can use magecraft against Archer, they might be able to win."

"Yeah, Mash has A-ranked Magic Resistance," Roman brightened up as he remembered that fact. "Only an EX rank spell could harm her. Archer is bound to have lower Magic Resistance since he is from modern times. Alright, quick question. What can they do to give Caster a few more seconds to finish his runes?"

Silence fell.

Shirou thought frantically. What could they do to help Mash?

The only option Shirou could think of was to deploy to the Singularity, run to the fight, fight Archer with the same magecraft that Archer used, and keep Archer busy enough that he couldn't attack Caster.

"What if Mash used her Noble Phantasm?" Choejor, the cook from Tibet, suggested. "It looks like should give Caster more time if between Archer and Caster. He have to go around."

Then Shirou noticed something.

"Hang on," Shirou said, eyes narrowed. "Why is Archer bleeding?"

"Huh?" Roman turned to Shirou in confusion. "He can't be bleeding. They don't have an edged weapon nor hit him anywhere on his body yet."

"But his left arm is bleeding," Shirou rebutted, more certain as he watched the arm more carefully, noting the more solid pieces of mist that flew off of him like blood. "And he isn't using it to block Mash's blows."

"He's right!" Nawakowski exclaimed after a few moments of carefully examining Archer's image. "Archer is bleeding on his left arm!"

"So that's his weakness!" Roman exclaimed. "They have to strike his left arm until he can't use it anymore. Then Caster can retreat and finish his runes."

Might work, Shirou supposed as Roman paged Fujimaru to share their conclusion. But that wasn't what Shirou was worried about.

Who had injured Archer?

Was it one of the already defeated Servants, Saber, or a monster?

Shirou didn't know. Only Saber and Berserker had ever managed to harm the Servant of the Bow.

Gilgamesh could have but no one had seen any sign of him nor had Caster mentioned him. Did he not exist in that world?

* * *

 _Singularity F, Fuyuki, 2004_

Caster narrowed his eyes as he dodged another blow and weaved his staff forward to block Archer's other strike against Mash while she was off balance from the previous flurry.

He didn't like this. Archer was having them dance to his tune. And while Archer wasn't holding back anymore, the man was managing to inflict little cuts that would sap away at their strength.

If only he was a Lancer, Caster lamented. Then his Endurance would be much higher and his Agility much faster.

Suddenly, a very loud and guttural roar echoed down the tunnel. The tunnel that led to the outside. The tunnel that Archer had just used to come in after they had walked through it.

"You absolute madman!" Caster yelled as he spun his staff to block a pair of blows aimed at Mash while she had been distracted by the surprisingly close sound. "You lured Berserker here!"

That explained why Archer had spent so long on expanding the height of the ceiling! Berserker was two and a half meters tall. And he was strong and tough enough that no one would have been able to get inside after he was put outside.

You entered the cave and you would attract Berserker's attention. Then he would rip you to pieces as soon as you discovered him.

"Of course," Archer was probably smirking under that obscuring cloud. "We have the best guard dog in the world. Why would we want to use a second-rate one like you? Could you keep out even one door-to-door salesman?"

"He has Madness Enhancement!" Caster cried out, trying to appeal to Archer's sensibilities. "You bring him here and he'll keep you stuck in here!"

"A real pity that this group of salesmen didn't get to meet the good guard dog," Archer sighed. "All you needed to have done was rest at the school for 10 more minutes and you could have met the dog. I am told he loves strangers."

"Stop using dog analogies!" Caster yelled. "And the only thing he would love to do is rip us limb from limb!"

"He doesn't bite," Archer pointed out. "He doesn't have rabies like a certain Lancer in front of me. Oh wait, you _aren't_ Lancer. My apologies for mistaking you for a dog."

"Is this because I tried to kill you for watching that fight?" Caster asked, furiously parrying a couple of blows. The annoying Archer was hitting a new low for him with these taunts. "I didn't know you were a magus!"

"Oh, no. I don't need a reason to do something hilarious after all. And we wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't failed back then," Archer said darkly.

The later part didn't make sense but Caster didn't have time to think about it.

He had to hurry up. All this fighting was probably getting Berserker worked up. And once Berserker burst into the fight, it would all come down to a game of tag.

With Berserker as 'It' and tagging being read as smashed to a pulp.

The only advantage they had was that Berserker was so tall that he wouldn't be able to see anyone as his head would be in the ceiling. And with his B-ranked Madness Enhancement on, Berserker probably couldn't even realize that he could bend over.

Which means, he had to do something really risky before Berserker joined in.

"Use your Noble Phantasm!" Caster barked out, scrapping his on-hold rune scheme behind him in order to sketch a rune that exploded in a wave of force, rapidly pushing him back and the young lady in the other direction as she let it though her Magic Resistance.

"Lord Chaldeas!" Shielder widened her eyes even as she instantly obeyed.

As the shield spring up between him and Archer, Caster wasted no time in sketching a new set of runes even as two more swords bounced off the inside of the larger shield before colliding on Mash's smaller shield.

Whew, he was glad that worked. Noble Phantasms could be funny sometimes. Might have only blocked one way.

But this was his only shot. He wouldn't get another chance. This would have to be B-ranked if it killed him.

Well, not if it killed him. He couldn't let Saber win so he had to survive. Hopefully his Protection against Arrows would help him here. He didn't count on it as the skill was giving him the feeling that this was the wrong course of action to avoid getting hit by ranged weapons.

Caster also hoped that Shielder didn't die here.

It would be too much like that group of students dying in the war against Medb because his body needed to rest and they fought to the death in his place.

He always regretted that. They shouldn't have had to die for his weakness. And he didn't want a repeat.

* * *

Mash was breathing heavily as she kept the shield up.

She knew that she wasn't very good at combat yet but this was ridiculous!

Archer wasn't even a melee fighter and he was utterly trouncing her by virtue of his combat experience.

Mash had a long way to go before she could hope to match a real Servant.

But she needed to focus. She couldn't let Archer get a clear shot on Caster.

And there he goes again, throwing the swords so that they would curve around the Noble Phantasm like a boomerang.

Seriously, what got Archer his classification as an Archer?! Did he keep the Guinness World Record for most swords thrown in a minute for over a century or something? It was ridiculous!

But Mash couldn't do anything about that. Archer was running straight at her, determined to take down her shield so he could reach Caster again.

Mash readied herself to receive his blows. As long as she kept the Noble Phantasm up, Archer would have to throw his swords around it, giving Caster some time to finish his runes.

And then Archer was upon her.

His twin swords slammed into her shield, but Mash's strength allowed her to not lose any ground.

Before the reverberations of the blow even faded from her shield, Archer was coming around the left side of her shield, trying to outmaneuver her.

Mash gritted her teeth. She couldn't let Caster become exposed to Archer.

He was counting on her.

But neither could she let Archer stab her while keeping her shield up.

She wanted to live for a bit longer. She wanted to see the sky.

And if she died, then the Noble Phantasm would fall and Archer would still kill Caster.

So Mash spun the shield towards Archer even as she leapt backwards, keeping the shield firmly in her hand.

Her Noble Phantasm followed, keeping Caster behind it.

Archer suddenly jumped back throwing a pair of swords on another boomerang course around the larger angled shield.

Mash swiveled her shield to the front again, causing the swords to bounce off of the inside of her Noble Phantasm.

And her eyes widened as she saw Archer's already previously thrown sword get pulled towards Caster's back from when he had knocked them astray.

The swords had an attractive property to each other! Archer could use the swords on this side to control the swords on the other side.

And Caster couldn't turn around to block it without having to stop writing his runes!

As she opened her mouth to shout a warning to Caster, she saw Olga grab something and throw it with all her might towards one of the swords aimed at Caster's back.

As Olga's small rock hit the sword, it flashed a symbol, Ehwaz, if Mash remembered her Norse runes correctly. One of its meanings was for 'pull'.

And suddenly the sword dropped as gravity increased its pull on the flying weapon.

The sword hit the ground and pulled the other swords towards it, causing the one aimed at Caster's back to veer off course until they broke down into mana.

But by that point, Archer had already thrown two more pairs of swords in a boomerang fashion again around the shield Noble Phantasm. And now he was running towards Mash, fully intent on taking her down so he could get at Caster before Caster could finish his spell.

Two seconds down. If Caster managed to continue writing even as four swords converged on him, then they could finish the spell and finally kill Archer.

Mash hoped so.

She didn't know how long she could hold out against Archer by herself.

* * *

Olga breathed in as she shakily reached down to grab some more of the runes she had prepared.

What had she been thinking! She had interfered in a fight between Heroic Spirits! If Archer managed to actually attack her, she would be dead in an instant!

But it was a calculated risk. If Caster died to a blade he didn't see coming or had to spend a second to defend himself instead of finishing his runes, then Mash would die, barring a miracle, and it would take Archer only a short time to dispose of herself!

But now more of Archer's thrown swords were arcing around the shield towards Caster. And Olga didn't know which one she could hit with a rune.

And she didn't have very many Ehwaz runes. She had gone for a variety of runes, reasoning that she might need any of them to deal with threats that Saber put in their path.

But she had a few Dagaz runes. She could use one as a flash grenade to give Mash some time against Archer. Archer probably had really good eyes to be able to see long-range so causing a bright flash of light would be devastating to him.

She reached down to her pouch which now held the runes she had made while waiting for Ritsuka to recover.

Thank goodness she had stopped early. If she had tried to finish the last couple of runes to bring it up to a complete set, they would have arrived late and ran straight into Berserker!

Hefting the small Dagaz rune in her hand, Olga drew back her arm, focusing on pouring her od into it so that it would go off at a certain time.

Once she infused enough energy into it, she threw it forward and above the rock she was using as cover.

Olga watched with bated breath as the small rock, something that wouldn't trigger anyone's magic resistance as it wasn't being used directly against a Servant, flew through the air, passing Lord Chaldeas on the right.

The rune should activate on the opposite side of Mash where only Archer and Caster could see it before detonating in a burst of bright light, hopefully stopping Archer but letting Caster continue writing blindly.

He was trained by Scathach, queen of the Land of Shadows. And as Caster, he should be able to write the runes in his sleep, much less while blinded.

But a stun from the Dagaz would only last for a few seconds before they could see clearly again.

Olga hoped a few seconds was all that Caster needed to finish the runes.

The thrown rune was almost in position when Olga realized that the rune would blind her and Ritsuka as well if they were staring at it.

She grabbed the boy's head and forced it down and behind the rock, even as she popped her own behind it as well.

Olga saw the air flash white as the Dagaz rune fulfilled its purpose and shone into the eyes of everyone who was looking at it for a brief moment.

As she blinked away the afterimages cast by the reflected light, Olga decided that maybe she had put a bit too much power into it.

But curious as to how effective it was, Olga quickly but cautiously popped her head back up to see how it had worked.

Archer was engaging Mash in melee combat again. Caster was still writing runes.

But Caster had used his staff to bat away only half of the four swords flying at him.

The other two had landed on his leg and on the arm holding the staff, forcing Caster to drop the staff as that hand lost its strength and to shift his weight onto the only good leg left.

Her little rune hadn't changed anything, she realized as Archer kicked Mash's shield, sending her flying back a short distance. It might have actually made things worse for Caster.

Archer spun around and sprinted towards Caster, aiming for one of the sides of the Noble Phantasm, making sure to throw a pair of swords at Mash behind him. Probably to keep Mash from moving the shield to block his course.

Mash swiveled her shield around so that the long end would be on the side, allowing her to repel the swords but still keep the barrier up between Caster and Archer.

And at the end of the fourth second since Caster had started writing runes, according to Olga's very precise and accurate sense of time, Caster opened his mouth and yelled, "Flip your shield around!"

What was he doing? Wouldn't it be better to dismiss the shield altogether?

Archer skidded to a halt and reversed course, heading straight towards Mash.

Oh, Archer was going to use Mash as a shield! His Magic Resistance wasn't up to handling Caster so he was going to make sure that Mash took it instead of him.

Well, joke's on you Archer! Mash has A-ranked Magic Resistance. She's immune to any magecraft that Caster could use!

Mash immediately obeyed Caster, spinning the shield around until the shield was behind her back, her Noble Phantasm also now on the other side of her.

Leaving Archer open to Caster who now had a clear line of fire.

Archer, who in response, dove behind Mash without attacking her and sprung back up while bending his knees and his back until his head was lower than the top of Mash's shield.

Oh. Mash's Magic Resistance would protect anyone behind her from Caster's runes.

This could be a problem.

* * *

Archer was rather uncomfortable right now.

For one thing, slouching like this to squeeze behind the shield of a girl much smaller and slimmer than he wasn't good posture. For another, he could feel the heat of the fireballs coming his way. For a third, he was dead all over again. And like his last death, he had only gone to a worse place.

Ah well, at least this way Saber was only having him kill Caster and the Chaldeans instead of thousands. A small improvement.

Now if only killing the group didn't mean killing all of humanity, life would be great.

Shielder, the young girl fighting using inherited skills and techniques which were not well suited for her female and slimmer frame resulting in weaknesses and exploits galore, was now his only effective option against Caster.

He couldn't move fast enough to get to the other side of her Noble Phantasm. And even if he could, the barrage would last long enough that the girl could take it down leaving him vulnerable all over again only in a worse position.

No, his only option was to use Shielder herself as a barricade.

Either Caster would fry her seconds before frying him in the widespread area of attack or her hopefully higher Magic Resistance would nullify the spell.

If the first, then they had no way of winning against Saber. Caster wouldn't be able to beat her with her no longer holding back. She would kill him even if it meant breaking her Spirit Core to power Excalibur.

No, the only hope the Chaldeans had of winning was to use Shielder to block Excalibur.

Archer wished he still had Unlimited Blade Works. But Saber's necromancy was inadequate to restore him back to full strength. Part of him and the other Servants were lost and Saber had chosen everyone to lose their Noble Phantasms.

Well, not everyone was obedient, Archer reflected, thinking of his own Independent Action and Berserker's choice to enter Madness Enhancement. Saber could force obedience onto himself but Independent Action meant that he got some choices about how to carry out her orders.

For example, he could decide to kill the invading Shielder by taking advantage of every one of her weaknesses. That way, if she somehow won, she would be able to review this experience and be tougher to kill in the future.

And if she was tougher to kill, Chaldea would be more likely to survive and succeed in their Order.

And the first fireball descended upon Shielder.

And Archer approved.

Shielder's Magic Resistance instantly dispelled the product of Caster's B-ranked runes. That meant that she would be better able to survive. However, it was the fact that the neighboring fireballs flew past her instead of dispelling along with the first one that really got his approval.

A sea of fireballs was useless if all you needed was to dispel one and you wipe out the entire group. If Caster had done that, Archer would have leapt over Shielder, planted some swords in her back or head if she failed to dodge, and then kick her in order to get a boost in speed towards Caster while ensuring that she couldn't use her Noble Phantasm to block his path again.

But Caster wasn't that big of an idiot. Despite his best efforts at trying to be.

Archer honestly didn't know how Caster was creating such a large disassociated group of fireballs all from the same runic scheme. Nor did he care.

He just had to figure out how to win.

Saber's command wouldn't allow him to just die. He had to put forth his best effort into fighting. But he also needed to make sure that his opponents were ready and able to take down the upcoming threats, starting with Saber.

He had Independent Action and was firmly on the side of humanity. Did anyone expect him to not be secretly rooting for Chaldea?

So Archer plotted and planned. Serve Saber, obey her orders, make 'accidental mistakes' that would lead to her downfall such as 'forget' to structurally analyze the history of the Demi-Servant's shield, and teach as much as he could to the Master, the director, the Demi-Servant and his younger self in the future as he could.

He also kept in mind that he would only have a few seconds of defiance before Saber noticed and silenced him.

He would have to make those seconds count.

But until then, he would teach Shielder.

Current lesson? Don't assume that they will let up even in a situation when their life depends on you.

Or in other words, people are stupid. Stupid enough to attack a shield utilizing Servant who was their only protection against another enemy's fireballs.

Fortunately, this situation was her specialty, he reflected as her shield repulsed his shoddy copies of Kanshou and Bakuya. A straight up fight where the opponent couldn't dodge or use Agility but instead had to power through her strength.

Not likely to happen with his lesser strength, he mused as the fireballs flew past him on all sides, including above.

However, this was an opportunity. Shielder would live or die depending on how well she could pressure him. If she could force him to dodge to avoid a blow or knock him off to a side, she would win.

If she failed to force him out before the fireballs died down, then she would probably die.

Right now, she was striking at his feet. A good tactic as it left herself protected but he had to respond and dodge. If she managed to pin his foot, then she could rotate her shield and use the wings on the side of her shield to knock his head into the fireballs.

Her earlier simple tactic of step to the side had already been foiled by his superior agility as he had followed her steps as fast as she had made them.

But she was somewhat disappointing. The fastest good tactic here would be for her to throw herself backwards.

If she lay prone, then he would have no way to block or dodge Caster's fireballs as long as she kept her shield and Noble Phantasm facing upwards, incidentally protecting herself from any last ditch maneuvers he could make.

But he couldn't suggest that. It would leave her depending on an enemy's good will in the future.

And only idiots clutching to honor or ones that liked her would give her that good will.

No, better to give her a harder time now so she would be prepared for the ruthless enemies of the future.

An alternative tactic for her was to have her Master recall her using his Command Seal. That would leave him completely vulnerable to Caster.

It would cost a Command Seal though, which was a bad idea. To use one when she had two good tactics that wouldn't use that precious resource would be wasteful.

Her final tactic was to charge forward as fast as she could until he hit a wall and then for her to dodge diagonally forward until she was next to him and not providing cover for Caster. All it would require would be for her to dismiss her Noble Phantasm so that she didn't crush the walls.

Honestly, this would be the tactic that he would recommend. It cost the least in resources for her, resources that could later be used against Saber, and it would take advantage of the confined space they were in.

But she was still striking at his feet, forcing him to dance while trying to strike past her shield-

Suddenly, she stopped and planted her shield into the ground.

Why would she do that-

Archer's eyes widened before narrowing under his covering of corrupted magical fog-like energy as he felt heat.

Heat on his back.

Heat that was getting stronger.

Like the fireballs were coming from behind him now.

And the fireballs weren't remote controlled else Caster would have already curved them around Shielder.

Oh, he didn't know that the inside of Shielder's Noble Phantasm reflected magical projectiles too.

Clever of them.

His Eye of the Mind skill couldn't find a way out of this.

Archer gave his silent approval. If they could pull out surprises like this against himself, who had fought in more battles than half a dozen Heroic Spirits put together, then they might just stand a chance in the upcoming challenges.

Now, what should he say to prepare the group for the future?

And then the reflected fireballs hit and Archer felt his body burn as hot as the fires that shaped his first most memorable experience in life.

Ironic that this third life would end in fire like how Shirou Emiya had been born inside the fires of Fuyuki.

* * *

Mash exhaled and inhaled rapidly as she watched Caster's continuous stream of fireballs finish and die out, leaving behind only Lord Chaldeas and a burned husk of pure black.

The body looked familiar. Maybe because he looked a bit like Lancer? Both had been so tall that Mash had to crane her head up to look at him and, like Lancer, the man had just been so surprisingly fast. Slower than Rider had been but still much faster than Mash could move.

Also, Archer was charred black and brown now, just like Lancer had been.

"Well done, Child of Light!" the corpse said as his body started to break apart into magical energy. "Who knew her Noble Phantasm could be utilized that way! Beware-"

The man's words cut off as his head and lungs vanished into the black sludge and corrupted magical energy that the other Shadow Servants had been made of.

Mash sighed in relief and collapsed onto her shield, using it to prop herself up.

That had been too close. If it hadn't been for the reflective properties of Lord Chaldeas, Archer might have won.

She watched as her scratched and scarred arms trembled as they laid on her shield.

Who was that? The man had evidently been a master swordsman. He was good enough to go sword to staff against Cu Chulainn! It probably would have been a different story if they had fought in Ireland where Caster would have been stronger, but still.

Was he really a Heroic Spirit from the present and future? His skills with the sword would have better fit in with those of old rather than the modern age.

"Yeah, we'll beat the Sacred Sword. Leave it to us!" Caster jerked his thumb back to point at himself. "The young lady and I'll take her down!"

Mash felt a warm glow in her heart at Caster's declared belief in her. But they barely beat Archer-

"I'm glad you trust me," Mash managed to say as she caught her breath. "But do you really think I can guard against it?"

She paused to catch her breath and to turn around to stare Caster in the eyes, noticing how her trembling seemed to double in her arms as she contemplated fighting Saber. She was shaking so bad that Caster seemed to be wavering where he stood. "I've heard about the sword of King Arthur. I'm still shaking from Archer. I don't think I can take on Saber. My fingers are trembling just thinking about it…"

Caster glanced towards her arms clutched onto her shield before looking behind her with a frown. Meanwhile, his good hand sketched runes over his sliced open leg and arm, healing them with high level magecraft.

Behind him, Fou leapt over the rock that Olga and Ritsuka had been hiding behind and scampered over to Mash. Mash was shaking so bad that Fou seemed to be vibrating in place as he looked up at her, meowing "Fou? Fou, fou, fooouu. Fou!"

It was like he wanted to reassure her and warn her about something different.

"Thanks Fou," Mash expressed to the small creature who just darted around to the back of her knee and was jumping to headbutt it repeatedly. "But I don't even have my True Name yet and King Arthur defeated not only Archer by herself but also Berserker. And Excalibur-"

The comm suddenly bleeted before spitting out an image of a frightened Roman.

But before he could say anything-

" **▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▅▅▅▅ーー** **ー**!"

Mash's head whipped around as she realized what she had taken for shaking wasn't only her body's adrenaline decrease.

It was the rumble of a charging monster.

Mash jumped back towards her Master even as the wall near her exploded outwards.

And as the stone fragments, rocks and boulders bounced off her shield, armor and skin, Mash's eyes widened as she saw what had just came through.

A monster. One that just broke through the wall like it was tissue paper compared to the stone physique of its body. Muscles that looked like it had been carved out of granite on thighs and arms, each one thicker than her entire body, and a body so large that the bottom of his chin was all that Mash could see of his face that was plowing through the stone ceiling. And unfairly, even with the ceiling slowing him down, the being moved faster than any living thing had a right to.

And along with the black mist, the giant wore an aura of screaming bloodlust, the urge to destroy, and the immense magical pressure of what had to be the strongest Servant.

Mash didn't need to be told who this was. This could only be one person.

Berserker. Berserker Heracles himself.

Whose arm alone probably outweighed her, shield and all.

Which arm she got to see way too close as one fist slammed right into her shield that she was holding onto.

Mash must've blacked out under the force of such a strike because her next remembered sensation was the pain of her back hitting the stone wall on the other side of the tunnel.

Mash coughed and gasped, blood speckling her lips as her wounded body protested the treatment from the giant.

 _How can we defeat Berserker?_ Her mind and heart screamed through the wooziness of her thoughts. _He's so strong that even blocking one of his blows was enough to nearly kill me!_

And then Mash's body remembered that gravity was a law and she fell to the ground amidst the screams of humans facing a monster out of nightmare.

In a daze, Mash realized that it was Ritsuka and Olga screaming.

" **▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▅▅▅▅ーー** **ー**!" Berserker bellowed, his enraged voice drowning out the screams of everything lesser, including the sound of Mash's own heartbeat as it drummed in her ears.

Then silence. Complete and utter silence.

Mash woozily tried to raise her head but failed as her body didn't seem to be responding right.

In fact, it felt like she was in the middle of an earthquake with everything shaking as the wrath of the Son of Zeus raged all around her.

Mash now understood why both Mr. Emiya and Caster had been hoping to not face Berserker.

To face an opponent who seemed about as stoppable as a typhoon…

Mash didn't want to fight!

She didn't want to be here!

She didn't want to die!

Abruptly, she felt hands on her body and her eyes widen in terror even as her breathing broke into hyperventilation.

It had to be Berserker! He was going to crush her!

She didn't want to die like a crushed grape!

She didn't want to die! She didn't want to die! She didn't want to die!

Mash thrashed, her formerly immobile body now responding to her panicked commands.

She had to escape! She had to survive!

One small hand landed on her cheek and she turned to bite at it, hoping to get Berserker to LET GO!

Only for her bite to land on Ritsuka's thumb.

Mash paused as her terrified brain realized that it wasn't Berserker who was holding her.

It was her Master.

Ritsuka's extremely wide bright teal-blue eyes, his pupils enlarged, stared into hers even as his mouth opened and closed, saying something that Mash could not hear.

Mash watched as time slowed to a crawl, watching as his eyes widened even further, tears starting to pool into his eyes and his mouth to open like he was trying to scream in pain, only for Mash's deaf ears to not hear anything.

And in a moment of clarity through the storm of her terror, Mash realized what she had in her mouth.

It was her Master's finger.

Immediately, she yelped, opening her mouth, and drew back, body breaking free of Ritsuka's grasp while letting his thumb, which was now bitten all the way through the skin and muscle only to stop somewhere around the layer of bone, go from her mouth.

She stared at it in horror.

She could taste his blood on her tongue.

She had just bitten Senpai's thumb.

She had nearly chomped her Master's thumb.

She had almost ripped off Ritsuka's thumb with her mouth.

Oh, the horror! Oh, the humanity!

What had she done!

Mash tried to crawl backwards, to push into the wall and away from the most horrible thing she had ever done!

How could she have bitten Senpai?!

He had reached out to save her. He had tried to save her from being under the rubble. She was alone and he gave up his chance to escape to spend time with her in her last moments. It was for him that she had taken up the contract with the Heroic Spirit.

And she had just betrayed him.

But her arms collapsed, refusing to give her support, turning on her like she had on her Master.

All she could do was stare wide-eyed at her Master's thumb that she had nearly torn off.

Ritsuka shook, or was it her shaking? Mash realized that her trembling was increasing even as she faced what she just did.

He reached out for her but Mash, in a burst of speed she didn't know she had left in her, threw herself to the side, crawling backwards until her back met a boulder.

But her Master followed her. He came closer, hands outstretched until he stopped and hid the injured hand behind his back.

Mash could only stare at the uninjured, outstretched hand, the one that still had a thumb. The one that she hadn't nearly ruined.

It was getting closer and closer.

Mash trembled as she stared at it, her mind not working, her emotions only being a mass of sheer, utter terror.

And the hand, the uninjured hand, landed on her arm.

Mash closed her eyes. She didn't want to see his face. She didn't want to see the betrayal on his face. She didn't want to see how he looked in rage and anger for what she had just done to him.

So Mash was completely surprised to feel herself being hoisted up and for the arm to go around her back.

Her eyes snapped open as she spun her head sideways to see Ritsuka, one arm around her, his other pressed to his side. He was hauling her down the tunnel, away from the mad Berserker.

Why? Why was he carrying her? Hadn't she hurt him? Hadn't she turned on her Master like a Stray Servant? Like a failure?

But he was. He wasn't letting her go even as he half-stumbled, half ran away.

Mash couldn't understand. After what she had done, after attacking him, thinking he was Berserker, why was he slowing himself down? Why had he come for her? Why was he saving her?

"Why?" she demanded in utter confusion only for her ears to detect no sound. "Why?"

Ritsuka didn't answer. Just continued his awkward run towards the Director, who was running ahead of them while awkwardly carrying Mash's shield.

Mash half-wanted to stop right there and wait for Berserker to kill her. Anything to avoid the shame of confronting the reality that she, Mash Kyrielight, had attacked her own Master.

But Berserker was behind her.

And she had no desire to be anywhere near that monster of a Servant.

* * *

As Ritsuka ran down the tunnel, injured hand to his side, other arm wrapped around Mash in order to carry her, his thoughts replayed the last few seconds.

He remembered wondering why everything was shaking. Wondering what that odd rumbling sound was.

And then the giant Servant had burst through the wall like it was a wave of water instead of solid stone. And immediately smacked Mash straight into the other wall.

He remembered watching Mash cough up blood as she fell to the ground.

He remembered hearing a pair of screams only to realize that they were from himself and Olga.

He remembered Caster shoving the two of them away from where they were as Berserker charged them like a train at full speed, his head carving a trench through the stone ceiling, sending rock shards ahead of him like a spray of miniature bullets.

Ritsuka remembered Caster almost instantly creating a floating rune where they had been standing. He remembered watching Berserker smash that rune like it was made of cheap glass even as Caster dodged the giant's fist only to get knocked back by the sheer force of the air displaced by the arm.

But not before Caster's staff finished the rune that it had been sketching on the floor.

And as Caster's staff went flying in the grip of Caster, who like Mash, slammed into a wall of the tunnel, the tunnel went utterly silent.

Not silent like the grave but completely silent. Like someone had erased all sounds. Even his saliva tasted like everything had gone flat.

He couldn't hear his own scream even as his lungs and throat pushed air out.

He couldn't hear the roar or rumble of the giant.

He couldn't hear the sound of rocks hitting each other as the rocks that Berserker sent flying hit and bounced all over the tunnel.

And most importantly, Ritsuka's eyes told him that Berserker went still.

He didn't move. He didn't attack. He didn't rampage or strike. He didn't even twitch a muscle.

The giant went completely still and looked like a statue that someone had forgotten to finish carving with his head still in the ceiling. And as Ritsuka watched, Berserker's skin started to generate the dark cloud of miasma that all Shadow Servants produced. Only now instead of leaving it behind him like an airplane trail in the sky, the dark cloud covered Berserker.

Within just a second, the giant had turned from a murder machine into a black statue that radiated black smoke. A pillar in the middle of the tunnel. A pillar at the end of a trail of pure devastation, littered with large cracks where Berserker had either stepped or smashed.

Ritsuka remembered Olga running away. Then out of the corner of his eye, she had stopped and ran back only to start shaking him until he could rip his gaze away from the ominous shadowy pillar that would become the future star of his nightmares. He remembered her pointing over to Mash and her shield, embedded into the wall next to the Demi-Servant, and gesturing at her.

At first, he had stared blankly at the younger girl. Then his brain kicked back into action and he started to worry that Berserker had killed Mash.

And then Mash had breathed and that worry evaporated.

It took another round of emphatic gestures from the director until he finally got the idea to pick Mash up and run away.

He remembered following her to Mash, remembered going over to Mash to see if she was alright while the director worked on removing the shield from the wall that Berserker had slammed it into.

He remembered his foolish decision to shake her to see if she was alright.

To be honest, Mash didn't look good. Blood and scrapes and cuts littered her all over. It was harder to see where her arm didn't have blood covering it than where it did. Her armor had rock dust all over, her head was smudged with blood and dirt, and she was trembling violently, mouth jittering like she was cold.

But it was her eye, her eye that was not covered by her bangs, that should have warned him.

Her purple pupil had expanded until it covered most of the eye and it was darting around in an unfocused manner. Almost like she was having a stroke, not that Ritsuka had ever seen someone have a stroke.

He remembered trying to shake her, to try to get her to look at him.

He remembered watching her eye widen ever further, her trembling increase. She looked like a very scared animal. Like she was in the middle of a panic attack.

So he laid his hand on her cheek to get her to look at him.

And he remembered her expression of pure terror right before her head spun and bit him.

He remembered the fire of pain rising up from his thumb even as the upper part of his thumb went numb like it was frozen.

He remembered Mash's expression of terror turn into shock and horror.

He remembered her try to get away, try to run only to discover that she couldn't, that her back was already to the wall.

For a long second, Ritsuka contemplated leaving Mash there. To take his revenge for her attacking him and nearly severing his thumb while he had only sought to help her. To abandon her there with monstrous giant.

But that was just the pain talking. He couldn't abandon the younger girl there. Not with Berserker nearby.

And he had blinked as Mash scrambled away so fast that she became a blur. When he turned his head to follow the blur, he found her, trembling and scared like a lost little kitten, up against a boulder that Berserker had knocked loose when he had barged through the wall.

Getting up, he reached out again, keeping both hands in sight even as she trembled more and more with every step he took.

Only to realize that her visible eye was focused on the bitten hand. The hand that she had injured. The one that she clearly felt guilty over.

He quickly hid it behind his back but it didn't alleviate Mash's trembling. All she did now as focus on his uninjured hand.

As he knelt next to the terrified-out-of-her-mind girl, she closed her eyes obviously awaiting some form of harm.

All Ritsuka could feel was sorry for her. Even as his thumb bled and fire from his nerves echoed up to his brain, he couldn't help but think and feel sorry that Mash was suffering as badly as he was.

But he couldn't try to reassure her yet. They had to get out of here before Berserker decided to resume killing them all!

"Come on, Mash," he said gently, even though not a single sound came out of his mouth. "Let's go."

With that said, he grabbed her and hoisted her up, wrapping his uninjured arm around her back so that he could part-carry, part-hoist her down the tunnel towards safety, following the director who was running ahead of him with both of her arms around Mash's shield.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ritsuka saw Caster drawing a series of runes into both the air and the ground, adding more runes to an outline of a large cube centered around Berserker.

Ritsuka hoped that whatever it was, it would work.

If he ever saw Berserker again, even if it was in a future life, it would be too soon.

He never wanted to see or experience anything like that again.

* * *

As Caster walked out of the tunnel into a natural cave, he saw the shaking and traumatized group waiting for him.

The boy and girl were beside each other, lying against a rock which they were using as a backrest.

Their boss was on the other side of the cave, conversing with the blue illusion that was displaying two people simultaneously, the former Master of Saber and the weakling in charge.

"Welp, I am _sooo glad_ he doesn't have Magic Resistance," Caster shuddered at the close call with Berserker even as he walked up to begin healing the injured. Which was pretty much all of them after Berserker had shot rock pellets everywhere in his charge towards the two magus. "I have to say, without his Madness Enhancement active, I don't think I could have done that."

"What was that rune?" Olga asked, breathing heavily. "How did you stop him?"

"It was for an illusion," Caster explained as he sketched green runes for healing over Mash's badly wounded body after examining it admiringly and whistled. "Man, she's definitely first rate. I didn't think that her smoking bod would have survived that. Even A rank Endurance wouldn't be able to survive a surprise attack from that guy while he has Madness Enhancement active."

"Berserker has A+ strength without Madness Enhancement. Means that instead of having 50 times the strength of a normal human, he has something like 100 times the strength of a normal person. And Madness Enhancement kicks that up a notch or a few," Caster explained to Master's befuddled expression that changed to horror as he followed Caster's explanation. "Anyway, the rune was for an illusion that tricked his mind. It was the only thing that could have worked against him. Berserker has False Eye of the Mind, which means that he could detect danger by pure instinct before anything can hurt him. And with Madness Enhancement on, he is more dangerous than ever. And just to make killing him suicidal, he has Battle Continuation. Even if I managed to kill him, he would live long enough to kill us all."

"The tricky part was his Divinity. His Divinity means that he has supremacy against, well, _everything_. Even if the illusion worked, he could break out by sheer force of will. Or even by accident really," Caster cracked his neck and sighed before continuing. "Which was why I silenced the entire area. I couldn't have something set him off again."

"I have gone berserk like that before," he admitted to their questioning stares at him. "Well, not quite like _that_ , definitely no bursting through solid walls, though I kinda wish I had. Would have made for a great tavern story."

Caster rubbed his chin with one hand, wondering how many drinks he could gotten for retelling the experience in a tavern back in his day. Probably enough to keep drinking the night away from all who heard it.

"Get back to the explanation." Olga said through gritted teeth.

"Jeez, you're a pissy one aren't ya?" Caster asked before backing down as she raised one arm like she was about to strike him. "Welp, anyways, when you're berserk like that, you can't feel anything. No pain, no sensation, nothing. All you are going off of is your eyes, your ears, your nose and your gut instinct."

"But look around ya," Caster waved around to the cavern that the tunnel had deposited them into. It looked like the people who had carved the tunnel had ran into a natural cavern with a high ceiling and they just incorporated it into their tunnel before continuing on through the other side of the cave. "Well, not here obviously but back there Berserker's head was up in the ceiling, among the rocks. He couldn't see or smell anything. Obviously, he was just using his instincts and hearing."

"So I tricked his instincts into thinking that nothing dangerous was here. And while that was in effect, I silenced everything so that he couldn't hear anything. Without those two senses, all that was left was his Madness Enhancement, which cut his rationality down enough that he couldn't even consider hunching over so that he could see or smell."

Caster grinned and tapped his nose. "All I had to do was cut off the outside world from affecting him. Without anything to set him off, he will never come after us. He wouldn't be defeated, but Saber already beat him. We're just fighting his necromanced corpse. As long as it is out of action, it doesn't matter whether it is dead or simply isolated."

"What if Saber tries to get him to attack us again?" Ritsuka asked in a rush. The boy was pale with fear and was shivering on the rock he was sitting on while holding his thumb in his other hand.

Good question. Caster approved of the boy's thinking. Saber definitely could give telepathic commands to her raised Servants. That was the type of questions the boy needed to be thinking about.

And how did his thumb get like that? It looked like a dangerous beast had bitten down on it only for the kid to be lucky that it hit the bone instead of cleanly severing it at the joint.

Checking on the status of the rune healing the girl, Caster reached out and sketched a rune of healing over the boy's thumb.

Say what you will, but thumbs were rather handy things. Hard to use a spear without one.

The last Master nodded in thanks for the healing, his face relaxing as the pain started to vanish.

"Can't on Berserker," Caster freely admitted to his current Master's question. "The guy has such a high Divinity and a high Madness Enhancement that if he chooses not to obey, there is nothing they can do."

"Illya said that Berserker didn't do well with rules," Shirou said from the hologram projection that had been conversing with Olga before Caster caught up with them after layering a sensory isolation Bounded Field around Berserker. "He was basically meant to break any rule he encountered through sheer power. Not so good at anything delicate but perfect for a Grail War. She could only control him because he wanted to protect her and her family did special 'enhancements' on her so that her Command Seals could control him."

"Berserker's Master?" The white-haired lady questioned with a look in her eye. "Do you know if she would be interested in joining us? If she could control a Servant like Berserker, then Chaldea definitely has a place for a top tier Master like her."

"She's dead," the former red-head said harshly. Ouch, stepped on a landmine, didn't ya? Probably died tragically, Caster would guess. People like the kid didn't respond like that unless it was a harsh experience. "Her lifespan was shortened in exchange for her abilities. She died years ago."

"I see," Olga sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to look for new Masters somewhere else. Do you know of any other Masters from your War that might be interested?"

"Um," Shirou hesitated. "Maybe. The only other survivor could probably be convinced to join if the paycheck was large enough."

"Very well," Olga ordered, brightening up at the potential Master she could soon be recruiting. "You'll be giving us his name and contact information as well as a referral. We need to start rebuilding our Master team as soon as possible."

"Do you want me to get that information now?" the wimp, Roma something, on the other side of the time gap asked.

"No, I'll take care of it," Olga sniffed. "You wouldn't be able to fast track the request and you don't have the political connections to get it wrapped up before the Mages Association and the UN comes breathing down our necks."

"Excuse me, I don't want to deny the additional help," Shielder interrupted the older lady's conversation. "But shouldn't we first plan on how we're going to deal with Saber? I mean, she killed Berserker after all and we barely even survived escaping him."

Her Master nodded in fervent agreement.

"Well, we already have an advantage here," Caster said with some surprise. Didn't the girl see it? Couldn't she see what she was capable of? "You're basically perfect for the job."

She didn't believe him. He could see it in her face, the poisonous doubt that would impair her and lead her to die in a stupid manner.

"That shield" Caster jabbed emphatically at the shield laying on the other side of the young lady. "will never shatter. If you were to lose it would be because you messed it up. Not even the Sword of Victory will be able to break it so the only way your Master will die while behind it would be because you let it go."

He ran his hand through his hair trying to think about how to make her see sense.

The girl was a worrywart. Maybe she would need something else to focus on?

"Listen. Don't think about beating the Sword. All you need to think about is protecting your Master." Caster said in full seriousness before cocking his head challengingly. "That's right up your alley, no?"

The girl went silent. Her eyes wide and enraptured like he had just delivered to her the words of his father, the god Lugh.

But Cu Chulainn had never been comfortable with extremely devout folk.

"Well anyway," he coughed as he finished healing Shielder's wounds. "Leave it to me to finish off Saber and just do what you need to do."

"Thank you," Mash said gratefully. "That advice will be of great help."

Mash had no idea how valuable that advice would be in the upcoming years.

* * *

 **Berserker Heracles under Madness Enhancement is scary. I think Mash would have preferred a Berserk Cool-Aid Man to have burst through the wall.**

 **But I tried to show how (semi-)normal people would react to having Berserker suddenly appear and try to kill them. Which includes having Mash break down into a panic attack and act irrationally. I didn't like having her bite Ritsuka either but everyone there except for Caster was out of their minds in terror or madness.**

 **As for Cu Chulainn's thoughts on Archer, it mostly is because Caster is misreading Archer. They had a very different fight before the Singularity with Caster having to use runes and his staff instead of his spear. A fight that left a different impression on Caster than what his canon self got about Archer.**

 **For those wondering, the status menu is a cross between Fate Stay Night's version and Fate Grand Order Servant profiles. It is a canon ability that Rin instructed Shirou on and gave him a training tool for (I think, the wording somewhat implies it). But since FATE was made to be compatible with digital formats, the information shows up in digital form, looking pretty similar to the FGO profiles but the organization of the information bears more of a resemblance to Fate Stay Night.**

 **By the way, does anyone know how to get a Berserker scream on this website? Fanfiction's document manager won't accept what I have for it.**

 **Thanks to Shadyxlr and Eiskralle1 for helping to beta read.**

* * *

Preview:

"YOU KILLED MY CHEF!" Saber Alter howled as her sword lit up with her magical reserves.

Saber threw herself forward, blasting towards Caster who was starting to sweat as he realized why, out of all the Servants, Archer alone was kept so close to Saber.

"FOR THE HAMBURGERS!" She yelled as she brought her sword down in a large two handed-swing down on his head.

THUNK!

Mash stared at the split in half Servant.

"Um, Senpai? Are you sure that we shouldn't have done anything?" she asked the person who had grabbed her arm when she had moved to protect Caster.

"Food is serious business," a somber female voice said.

Mash was startled as she turned to look.

Where she had thought was her Master was instead a woman in a tiger jumpsuit.

"Who are you!"

"THE ONE HERE FOR THE FOOD!" the tiger woman yelled before she stabbed forward with her tiger paw shaped weapon. "FOR MY PERSONAL CHEF!"

And this is why you don't stand between a woman and her next meal.

Especially if she was a glutinous female in Shirou's life.

 **Wait a second…**

 **That's the omake not the preview!**


	14. Checklist 13: Fulfill the First Order!

**A.N. Sorry for taking so long. This is the climax of the story and the scene did not come quietly. Rather kicking and screaming to tell the truth. And then it took a lot of effort to get it to sit still and let me analyze people's characters to get them to act in character.**

 **And then North America's FGO GUDAGUDA events started and the farming time cut down on writing time.**

 **Not to mention, I started working on a new story that I hope to finish in a few months.**

 **Also, while I was at it, I rewrote some previous chapters (I think they were focused on chapters 1 and 8?). Altered some scenes to make a plot point in the next chapter have some foreshadowing. I honestly like it better than what I originally had planned.**

 **The main reason you have this chapter right now was because I decided it would be better to split the climax over two chapters than try to cram it all into one.**

* * *

 **Checklist Item 13: Primary Directive: Fulfill the First Order!**

 _Antarctica, Chaldea, 2017_

The command room was silent.

Everyone was staring in horror at the monitor which was centered on Berserker as he rampaged in the small tunnel.

Shirou was tightening his fists in frustration.

He knew there was nothing he could have done to save them. Even if he had been there, the surprise and direction of Berserker's attack would have caught him off-guard just as it had everyone else. He would have never anticipated Berserker bursting through the wall and if he had expected Berserker, he would have been facing down the tunnel instead.

He would have been out of position when Berserker would have struck.

Sometimes, Shirou hated knowing how he and his opponents would act in a combat situation.

Usually, he could manage to manipulate the flow of battle so that they focused on him, but that wouldn't have worked on Berserker.

Berserker's Madness Enhancement increased his speed, endurance and strength. Without Avalon's healing properties, Shirou would not survive the first blow, even if he parried or blocked it perfectly. The only way to survive would have been to dodge.

But enraged Berserker's speed was just so fast…

Only if Saber had been there, Shirou lamented. Only Saber could have held Berserker off long enough for them to win or until she managed to win.

But Saber wasn't there. She couldn't be there.

Because if she had been, she would be the Saber responsible for this.

Saber would have been the one responsible for causing the Singularity and vanishing all the people in Fuyuki.

But Saber would never do that.

The only other thing that could have worked would have been Gilgamesh. But that king, fortunately, wasn't in this Singularity. He would have shown himself by now if he had been.

Maybe if Illya had been there, they could have stopped Berserker. Illya could and had called Berserker off before. With some promises and talking, Shirou could have persuaded her to let the group of four go.

Of course, it would probably have cost him his freedom and life. But better his life than those four's.

But it was a moot point. Illya wasn't alive in the Singularity. No one was except for the Servants who had survived whatever calamity wiped out most of the living people.

"Yes!" someone cheered, breaking Shirou from his morose thoughts.

Shirou looked up at the wide-spread happy and relieved hub-bub of the people in the Command Center. On the display screen, Shirou could see that the Servants, Master and Director had all managed to escape Berserker, the projected image showing Olga running away in the front, Mash's shield clutched in both arms, Fujimura carrying Kyrielight in a walk-assist behind her, and Caster making a box of runes around Berserker.

Oh, that was an option too. Man, he was getting too used to all-out battles if he forgot that you didn't need to win a fight to survive one.

Shirou breathed out a sigh of relief.

They didn't need to beat Berserker. They just needed to escape him. And if Mash was in good enough condition to walk with assistance, then she would probably live.

Definitely would need healing though. You didn't just walk off a hit from Berserker, Shirou remembered the feeling of missing his stomach all too well.

Unless Mash's Heroic Spirit also had a regenerative Noble Phantasm like Saber or Berserker had, in which case she should be fine by the time for breakfast.

Good. Everyone survived.

"Romani!" Olga panted as she continued her run, clutching the large shield awkwardly with both arms. "Get me that local! The technician guy, Shirou!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Roman said happily, relieved smile on his face as he typed something in. "He's right here!"

"What is it director?" Shirou asked, wondering what she could want to talk about with Berserker behind her.

"What do you know about Saber?" she asked bluntly, panting out the words as she ran. "You were Saber's Master, weren't you? What are her skills, abilities, Noble Phantasms?"

"I can't be of help there," Shirou frowned. "My Saber would never do-"

"I don't care if you think that someone is impersonating her,if it is a different Saber or if Saber is under a Command Seal or if you just don't understand your former Servant at all!" she breathed out in in her labored exhales. "What I want to know is what could we expect from a Saber that could defeat THAT Berserker!"

"Oh," Shirou frowned. That made some sense. If someone managed to steal Saber Command Seals like Rule Breaker could have, then Saber might have been forced into something like this. Shirou still didn't think that it was his Saber though.

But high-quality Servants able to defeat Berserker were rare and they would share some commonalities.

"In that case, the Saber will have at least one A rank ability, probably more if the A rank isn't much higher than normal A rank abilities. Either their Strength or Noble Phantasm," Shirou recalled. "Berserker's Godhand would render him immune to everything B rank and below. If the current Saber doesn't have an option well suited to defeating Berserker such as an anti-Divinity weapon, then Saber's weapon of choice would have to be A+ rank at least."

"How would that compare to Lord Chaldeas?" Olga asked.

"Umm," Shirou blinked. "Don't know?"

He didn't know the properties of Lord Chaldeas. It was good enough to stop bad copies of Kanshou and Bakuya but they were C ranked Noble Phantasms, not A rank.

But how would the Shielder's Noble Phantasm compare to this Saber's Noble Phantasm?

"Fantastic," Olga grumbled as she suddenly stopped in a cavern that was bigger than the tunnel. She was nearly falling over until she leaned against the wall, almost dropping the shield to the ground before turning around to the pair still following her and yelled, "Stop and rest here!"

The boy may have nodded as he slowed his staggering run. Entering the cavern, he looked around before helping to carry the still disoriented Kyrielight to a rock and setting her back against it before collapsing beside her.

"Continue," Olga snapped to Shirou out as she tried to catch her breath.

"Um, let's see." Shirou muttered. "Berserker's Godhand rendered him immune to a weapon if he already died once by it. But Rin and Illya ended up arguing about it and concluded that it worked by upping the relative rank of Godhand to the weapon. If this Saber managed to kill him by a single Noble Phantasm, it would have to be something like an A++ weapon. It would get easier if Saber has multiple A rank or higher Noble Phantasms as that Saber could switch between them as Berserker became immune to each."

"Alright," Olga said as she got her breathing a bit more under control. "What about skills? What would Saber's class skills be?"

"Magic Resistance and Riding," Shirou answered promptly. "Those two skills would be the most likely. I think the Magic Resistance would be significant considering-"

"-Caster hasn't been able to kill her yet," Olga finished. "Meaning that Saber probably has at least C rank magic resistance. And we are underground so Riding isn't available."

The Director stopped to think and to catch her breath while Shirou was quiet, trying to think of what else could be inferred from Saber's defeat of the five Servants.

"Saber might have some skill useful against Presence Concealment," Shirou offered up. "Something like Eye of the Mind or Instinct. Saber was able to detect and defeat Assassin and that was after exhausting themselves defeating Berserker if what Caster said is right."

"So a survival skill," Olga sighed. "Wonderful. No chance of ambush or a surprise attack working on her, not if an Assassin had already failed. Not that my runes would change things with that high of a Magic Resistance. Unless… if it doesn't target her…"

Olga start musing as she looked through the pouch on her belt that contained what runes she already had made.

"Sorry," Shirou said reflexively.

"Now tell me about your Saber," Olga commanded. "What Noble Phantasms does she possess?"

"My Saber had three Noble Phantasms," Shirou frowned as he obeyed. He didn't like betraying Saber like this. But they weren't fighting his Saber so it didn't matter if he told them about her. And the information about a first rank Saber, which this Saber also had to be, could help them prepare to fight the Saber that was actually here. "The first was Excalibur, A++ rank, and a full blast was a beam of light that scoured everything in its path. The second was Invisible Air, which is a C-rank Noble Phantasm that is hurricane strength winds wrapped around Excalibur, making it invisible. Saber had to release it in order to use Excalibur but she could use Invisible Air in bursts to accelerate herself. The third is Avalon, which grants healing and a barrier that can't be defeated even by an Anti-World EX rank Noble Phantasm."

"So Saber might be able to survive anything we throw at her," Olga frowned. "Ultimate offense in the form of the Holy Sword and ultimate defense in the form of Avalon as well an ability to increase mobility."

"In other words, excellent abilities all around," Olga groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "How are we going to beat that?"

Shirou opened his mouth to declare that Saber would never be their enemy-

"Yes, yes," Olga dismissively waved her hand at him. "It can't be your Saber so we won't be fighting her, stop saying that already. I'm preparing for fighting King Arthur as Caster has actually seen this Saber and the distortion is already altering history."

Shirou clicked his mouth shut but didn't stop frowning.

"What skills did Saber have?"

"Well, there is Instinct which allows her to predict attacks," Shirou unhappily surrendered up. "She was able to use it to dodge and survive an unblockable attack. She had Charisma-"

"Naturally," Olga sniffed. "King Arthur is a king after all. Probably used that to get all the Shadow Servants except for Berserker to serve her."

"And Mana Burst allows her to enhance her abilities for a brief moment." Shirou frowned at the Director. She seemed far too convinced that Saber was Arturia.

"And her stats?" Olga asked, eyes calculating.

"Sorry," Shirou shook his head. "It's been too long."

Olga sighed. "Well, it has been a decade since the Fifth Grail War." She reluctantly allowed. "Any weaknesses you can remember?"

"Um," Shirou hesitated. Saber didn't really have any weaknesses. She disliked foul play and dishonorable conduct or people who disregarded what she stood for. But that wasn't really a weakness.

Saber did have a weakness in that she was insecure. She gave her all for her kingdom and its failure and collapse nearly destroyed her. She also was too dependent on her identity as a king. In addition, she also was socially out of her depth in modern times and was sensitive to others but was completely willing to crush her emotions for the sake of others' happiness.

Combined together, you could psychologically hurt her if you aimed for them.

But Shirou didn't want to tell Olga that. It was personal for Saber. Not something to spread around even if she was here as their enemy and he didn't fall in love with Saber so that he could rip her apart.

He refused to do anything that could hurt her like that.

"She doesn't have any, does she?" Olga closed her eyes in resignation.

"She isn't the best swordsman in the world," Shirou offered up, remembering her fight with Assassin Sasaki Kojirou. "But she's very good. You would need to spend a lifetime practicing the sword in order to beat her."

"All of which means that since Caster isn't a Lancer and Mash is an unknown Demi-Servant, we shouldn't fight in melee, something we already knew," Olga dismissed with a wave of her hand before refocusing on Shirou. "I want you to try to recall anything else you can about her."

"Well, Saber is a knight and she values her honor and chivalry. She prefers her fights to be fair and direct," Shirou determinedly pressed on. "She would never participate in something that would tarnish her honor or threaten her kingdom like threatening to exterminate all of humanity. That's why this Saber can't be my Saber."

Olga rubbed her temple as she looked at Shirou's bullheaded expression.

"Fine," she bit off. "Let's deal with Saber's identity later when Caster is here. But I do expect you to speak up if she is indeed the Saber of the Fifth War."

Shirou nodded, confident that Caster and Archer were wrong, that Saber wasn't Arturia.

* * *

"Um, Master?" Mash hesitantly asked as the group of four trudged on towards the final battle.

They had discussed plans, options, and tactics while resting and healing. They had also distributed some runes from Caster and Olga that should hopefully enable the group to fight better.

However, the situation was still grave. They were stuck between Heracles and King Arthur, a man who plowed through rock like tissue paper and a woman who had killed him.

But if they retreated backwards, they might awaken Berserker. If they advanced forwards, they would have to fight Saber unless Saber's former Master could talk her down. The obvious course of action was to press forward and hope for the best. Caster hoped for a fight. Mash was really hoping for Shirou Emiya to talk Saber down.

If they ended up fighting, then Mash was going to use her Noble Phantasm to defend while Caster invoked his Noble Phantasm with the full aria of the Wicker Man. Meanwhile, Olga and Ritsuka would wait for opportunities to throw single use runes that might be strong enough to change the course of the battle but were to avoid targeting Saber herself. Mash would have to keep her Magic Resistance off so that the runes could affect her if they were used.

Even with Caster's A rank Runecraft bolstering their abilities, it looked to be a tough fight. Especially since Saber hadn't fought since she defeated the remaining Servants while they had to fight every Shadow Servant while she had rested and recovered.

And to tell the truth, Mash doubted that her shield could withstand the might of the strongest Holy Sword. But Caster was convinced that Mash's Virtual Noble Phantasm would be able to stand up to the strongest Holy Sword when Berserker hadn't succeeded.

And in her darker moments of doubt, Mash admitted that she would rather be obliterated by Excalibur than pummeled to pulp by Heracles.

"You don't have to call me 'Master', Mash," Ritsuka said with a strained smile as his head turned to her. "You can call me Fujimaru or Senpai. Or Ritsuka if you would like."

"Sorry," Mash flushed. "I just wanted to say sorry."

She didn't get why he was being so kind to her. She had nearly bitten off his thumb! Why was he letting her use his first name? That was an indication of intimacy or closeness among the Japanese culture, right?

"What for?" Ritsuka asked, slightly frowning in confusion.

Mash wondered if he was for real. She had nearly bitten off his thumb! How could he be acting so casual?

"F-For," Mash stuttered out, her tongue tying itself in knots from nervousness. "For biting you, Senpai."

The last was nearly said in a whisper as the girl dropped her head to stare at the ground.

The rock ground certainly was interesting. Uniformly flat without bump or hole. Probably made that way so that the constructors of the Greater Grail could use wheeled vehicles or carts to transport everything they needed down to the chamber containing the Greater Grail.

"Don't worry about it," Ritsuka said kindly before continuing with a shrug. "It's all better now so no harm, no foul."

Mash's head snapped up as she gaped at him in shock.

 _Don't worry about it!? No harm!?_ How could she not worry about it? The black-haired man was her Master and she had attacked him, nearly crippled him! That was like… like…

Failing Heroic Spirits 101! A Servant should respect their Master and work with them in a partnership.

And she, a mere Demi-Servant, had attacked him for no reason!

"I can't _not_ worry about it, Master!" Mash protested loudly before squeaking as the other two turned to look at her. "Sorry."

Mash lowered her voice before continuing on. "I _attacked you,_ Senpai. That, that, that just isn't done. It's wrong. I'm supposed to be your Servant and protect you yet I'm the one who hurt you."

"Mash," Ritsuka turned to face her, his blue eyes staring into her own. "You didn't do it because you wanted to. You did it because you were afraid."

"But I shouldn't be afraid," Mash protested, her guilt weighing down her heart. "I'm a Servant, I'm stronger than normal humans. I'm stronger than everyone else but a Servant. I shouldn't have been so afraid that I lost control like that."

"But you were afraid." Ritsuka pointed out.

"Yeah," Mash's glumness entered into her voice. "I'm a failure of a Servant. You saved me but I should be the one protecting you."

"No, that isn't what I'm saying," Ritsuka said patiently. "You're still human Mash. You might be able to move faster than I can watch and you are stronger than even Olympic athletes-"

He poked her bicep, a friendly, not hostile poke. Very different from the needles she was familiar with.

It felt… odd. Not bad, but just, weird. Mash hadn't experienced anything like this touch before.

"-but you're still a normal girl at the end of the day." Ritsuka concluded. "It's okay for you to be afraid. It's okay to be terrified. I was scared out of my wits when we faced Berserker. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the director's quick actions, I would have died."

The two shivered in unison at the mention of the giant that had nearly slaughtered them in less than two seconds.

"So you don't have to apologize for being scared Mash," Ritsuka said softly. "Just be yourself. 'Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.'"

Mash recognized the quote. It was from Winston Churchill, the famous British Prime Minister who had led his people during the second World War. And she understood what Ritsuka was saying even if she wasn't courageous. She just- she just had a problem with the other part.

 _But who am I, Senpai?_ Mash wondered to herself as she walked forward to the final battle of the Singularity. _I don't have parents or family. I didn't grow up at a home or even went to school. I don't even know who the Heroic Spirit I contracted with is._

 _If I don't know who I am or where I came from, how can I be myself?_

* * *

The group paused, gaping at the massive cavern containing the Greater Grail.

Even Shirou was impressed by what he saw from the hologram.

He had never entered that cavern. By the time he had fully recovered from his sudden illness all those years ago, Rin and the Magus Association had already completely disassembled the Greater Grail.

Shirou had been in caves before, digging out threats and dangers to people, but the scale of this cave and the glow and terrible majesty of a functioning Greater Grail was something else altogether.

"Is that her?" Romani asked, not being distracted by the Grail as he zoomed in on a single black figure.

Shirou stiffened as he saw Saber's face, her soft white skin now frighteningly pale. Her green eyes had became a sickening golden yellow. Her beautiful blond hair speckled with golden strands was now a whitened blond. Her gorgeous blue and white armored dress was now a black armor over a dark black dress. Red lines, something _wrong,_ something _evil_ , were scribbled all over her, contaminating her.

And Saber's sword had been twisted, altered from the accumulation of the hope, desire for victory, and joys of humanity into a sword powered by the darkest hopes and evil desires of humanity. Even evil people had their own hopes and desires. Those hopes also had a place in Excalibur.

But not the Excalibur that Shirou knew. No, those dark wishes for victory did not have an expression in Excalibur, the beacon of hope. Their place was in Excalibur Morgan, the beacon of evil hope.

But it was still the exact same sword. Wielded by the same person.

Arturia Pendragon.

No, it couldn't be.

Shirou's throat went dry and his eyeballs convulsed, fingers twitching as his spirit and mind screamed.

His sight started to twist, like space was being twisted between here and Fuyuki.

Shirou couldn't face, couldn't accept that Arturia was the Saber here. That she was the Saber that helped destroy Fuyuki and risk humanity's future.

But he had to. She was right in front of his eyes. He could see her sword's history!

No, she wasn't. She wasn't Arturia. She was a different manifestation of Saber, one that had willingly tarnished her nobility and her honor. She wasn't his Saber. She would never have sacrificed her honor again after Caliburn had broke.

She was Arturia. But she wasn't Arturia.

Shirou's mind labored and twisted, straining under the contradiction.

Someone was shouting at him but Shirou couldn't listen.

She was Arturia. But _she was wrong._ She was the girl who had grown up in a divided kingdom, taking the reins only for her kingdom to be torn apart by lords who would not obey their king's will and a sister who sought the throne. But she was someone else too!

She was the King of Knights, she was the girl that drew the Sword Caliburn from the Stone. She was the Tyrant of Camelot, the king who ruled with an iron fist.

The king who had taken Excalibur for her own after Caliburn had broken, broken on a field where her honor and chivalry had shattered.

But this Excalibur Morgan claimed that she didn't receive it from Vivian, the Lady of the Lake. Excaliburn Morgan was received from Vivian's polar opposite, the other faerie of the Lake. Morgan Le Fay, Arturia's older sister.

But the sword's history was saying that it had been received from Vivian. Shirou could see it, as clear as day! So why was it saying that it also had been received from Morgan Le Fay? How could it have two contradictory histories?

Both swords were Excalibur. Neither denied that. But why did it have two histories?

And what did that mean about Arturia?

Was she his Arturia?

He could see the sword's history. She had to be Arturia! Saber had fought both Berserker and Cu Chulainn as the King of Knights, Shirou Emiya's Servant less than a few hours after her summoning! Excalibur remembered the fight against the two, cushioned within Invisible Air. Saber had to be Arturia!

But she wasn't her! She had the same history, but she wasn't the Arturia he knew! The Arturia Shirou knew and loved would never have done what this Saber had!

She wasn't Arturia! Arturia couldn't be like that!

But swords couldn't lie to the magus of swords. Yet he had two contradicting pasts.

What was the truth? Which was the lie?

"Shirou!" a hand landed on his shoulder shaking him free from the dilemma by causing his eyes to stop beholding the _wrongness_ of Saber and her sword. "Are you alright?"

Shirou blinked and looked away, gaze falling on everyone in the control room who was staring back at him.

"I'm fine," Shirou said reflexively.

"You were having a mental breakdown," Roman said as his other hand pulled a doctor's flashlight out from his pocket. "Is there something wrong?"

Shirou unwittingly twitched as he remembered Saber and how _wrong_ she was.

"She's Saber," the words spilled from his mouth, his mind too absorbed in trying to grapple with that _perversity_ of Saber to control his tongue. "But she's not Saber! She is Arturia but she's not _real!_ "

"Not real?" Roman asked, brow furrowed in confusion as he paused his examination of Shirou. "What do you mean?"

"She can't exist!" Shirou vehemently declared, fire in his eyes. "That Arturia never existed in the first place!"

* * *

"That Arturia never existed in the first place!"

The cry came through Olga's comm, causing Olga to switch from watching the hologram of Roman's empty chair in Chaldea to looking at the armored woman in the cave.

The woman seemed to twitch for a bare instant, grimace appearing on her face for a split second. But only a split second before it vanished entirely, gone like a splash of ugly emotion at a high society Clock Tower party.

If Olga was anyone else, she might not have noticed. If she was anyone else, she might have thought it was her imagination.

But she was the heir and head of the noble and great Animusphere family. She was the Director of Chaldea. She was the one who walked into the polite gatherings and private rooms of politics and walked away with the funding Chaldea needed.

 _Even if no one ever bothers to appreciate it,_ Olga bitterly admitted to herself. Why couldn't people just compliment her for what she did do? Indubitably, almost anyone could do it but _she_ was the one doing it. Why would no one see that?!

But right now, her justified grievances could go and hang somewhere until she had time for them. She had a job to do. She was of the Animusphere and she would excel in any circumstances. She would not mess up here because of herself! She wasn't that pathetic!

She wasn't, right?

She could see the Saber that shouldn't exist in front of her. The effortless poise, dignity, and charisma that she naturally exuded. The royal upbringing of the most famous king of Britain.

And Olga, she didn't compare to any of it. Even Olga's beautiful locks couldn't compare to this king's pale hair.

"Never existed," Olga repeated, eyes feasting upon the thing that shouldn't exist. "So this is the cause of the Singularity."

Although she wondered what caused the former Master of Saber to instantly recognize her as the source of the Singularity, but that was a matter for a later date; after her victory here.

Now that she knew what had caused this Singularity, there could be no compromise. Saber, the Servant of the Sword, would be destroyed. No pleas, no negotiations. Just battle and victory.

Although, this Saber, Spirit Origin obviously altered from its original state judging by the documents Olga had reviewed about the Fifth Grail War, did not look like she would come without a fight.

"Remember, she uses overwhelming magical energy for massive strikes. If you don't pay attention, your top half will go flying," Caster warned Mash as the blue haired Servant cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders in preparation for the upcoming battle. Good, she didn't have to deal with idiots trying to stick to an unfeasible plan.

"Basically, just think of her like a human rocket," Mash said, eyes and face set in the seriousness that had helped her earn her the status of the best of A-Team. That and the fact that Mash was the only one who would listen to her on the team!

The girl inhaled in nervousness before breathing it out. Calmly and steadily, just like she had been trained to, the lilac haired Demi-Servant spoke. "Understood, I'll fight back with everything I've got."

"Interesting Servant there," a cold voice came from the black King of Knights, causing eyes to snap forward. "But I notice a new Master was chosen. Perhaps you decided on a Master capable of survival. But if I did not mishear you, my _former Master,_ I should not exist?"

Olga could hear the spite in the Servant's words. But why would this altered Saber use those words with that degree of feeling? Why did the words 'former Master' contain that much disdain, and beneath that, hidden pain?

"I see that you have grown wiser and more skilled," Saber said in a tightly controlled voice. "If you are indeed able to tell my unnatural state of being at a mere glance."

"What! You can talk?" Caster reacted with shock and some indignity. "You were just maintaining your silence all this time?"

"Silence, dog!" Saber angrily glared at the blue haired Irish Servant. "A fool is in need of chastisement and I have no time for your antics!"

Olga watched as Saber turned back to the hologram which now contained the technician who was wincing.

"Did you give up the war? Did your foolish ideals result in pointlessly sacrificing me to save your degenerate life?" Saber spat towards the technician who looked pained. "Here we both are, yet you refuse to take the right to say the truth to my face, coward?"

"Hey!" Emiya objected, pain turning to anger on his face. "I would be there if I could! But they won't let me Rayshift. If I could, then I would be there saving you!"

Olga's eyes widened as she started to realize what was going on.

"I don't need to be saved, Shirou!" Saber flared up at Shirou. "Battle is my role! You should have just focused on your role, not mine! My role is to fight, your role is to not die! Do not go and pointlessly risk your life for mine!"

They were arguing! Ignoring her and focusing on the emotional wounds they were dealing each other. Wounds that caused them to feel hurt and then try to hurt the other in turn.

How dare they! How dare they ignore her, Olga Marie Animusphere, Lord of the Animusphere family and Director of Chaldea!

"I can't do that!" Shirou protested. "Arturia is the most important person! Even if you aren't her, I can't reject saving you."

The Servant's grip on her sword tightened, the sound of her metal gauntlet creaking through the air.

Olga involuntarily jerked her eyes over to the hologram.

What kind of idiot says that!? What kind of Master would view their Servant as a VIP? It would lead to stupid tactics, poor decisions and pointlessly risk the Grail War!

"And as a Servant, it is my duty to protect my Master!" Saber flared up, a burst of black and red magical energy rising from her. "Even if you are not my Master any longer, it would be a stain upon my honor to let you come to harm as long as you do not stand in my way. You are a civilian now."

Shirou hissed as he winced at her words.

Okay, this was ridiculous!

"Hey, can we get on past the lover's quarrel and onto fighting now!" Caster called out, looking rather annoyed. "Love on the battlefield just makes for a mess."

"She is not my-" Shirou began, offended at comparing Saber Alter to Arturia.

"I do not have a-" Saber glared at Caster for his presumption.

"I! Don't! Care!" Olga burst out, fed up at being ignored. "Just get this over and done already! If Saber chooses to argue instead, then just kill her while her guard is down!"

Silence.

Mash looked shocked at the proposed course of action. Ritsuka just was looking between everyone, looking completely lost and confused.

"Man," Caster whistled, a rougish smile on his face, hoisting his staff in preparation for combat. "I really wish you had the affinity to be a Master. You would have been a fun one."

"Very well," Saber Alter said, her face blank as she drew herself up and turned to Mash. "You, girl! You may commence with displaying the truth of that shield to me. My sword will be your test."

"What?" Shirou said from the hologram, looking confused. "Wait a second-"

Unfortunately, no one was willing to wait any further.

* * *

Mash's only the warning of the pressure of heavy but dark magic intensifying before she realized that Noble Phantasms would be the opening move in this fight.

"Vortigern, Hammer of the Vile King. Reverse the rising sun. Swallow the light-" Saber Alter roared as she gripped her sword, her magical energy condensing into a blazing sheathe around it, a fiery field of black and red.

But the Servant of the Shield wasn't going to stand still while Saber Alter did all that. The girl reacted to the display of power, darting to the front, standing between the king and the people she had to protect.

"Unleash the Noble Phantasm," Mash incanted as she hoisted her shield over her head. As she slammed it down, she cried. "Lord Chaldeas!"

The defensive Noble Phantasm burst forward as a shield of light, stalwart and ready to take any blow.

"-Excaliburn Morgan!" Saber Alter screamed as she drew the sword forward, unleashing all the power of the greatest black sword in a burst like a great dam giving way to the powerful river imprisoned behind an iron wall of restraint.

"Arrrgghhh!" Mash grunted out as her magical energy poured out into the shield, seeking to stand against Excalibur, a still pool of blue and white light standing straight and proud in its defiance. The shield of humanity's future.

It was small and thin compared to the howl of black light and power raging down like a large torrential river.

 _What am I doing?_ Mash wondered, her darker emotions resonating with the blackened light pushing at her. _How could a shield, any shield, stand against the might of the legendary Excalibur? She defeated Heracles with this and four other Servants as well. How can a shield stand against that?_

At the thought, her Noble Phantasm cracked, the sound standing out against the roar of Excalibur's blast. Simultaneously, the light of the shield developed a crack, a diagonal jagged line of light crossing down the barrier from the top right down to the center.

Mash's heart sank as more cracks spread across the shield, splitting off from the initial breech like an infesting plague. The barrier was getting weaker! She couldn't hold against Excalibur! She knew she couldn't!

"-a giant of verdant thorn. Retribution, the forest that will purify human misery." Caster chanted, his chant coming out faster and faster as the cracks in the Noble Phantasm spread further and further. His circle, a flat reddish-orange with hints of yellow spinning in front of Mash but still inside the area covered by her shield.

Mash, her eyes wide with fear, glanced back.

There was Caster a bit behind her and behind him, Ritsuka and Olga held themselves, terrified. Olga was clutching herself, one hand tight on the other arm's elbow.

And Ritsuka was staring at her Noble Phantasm, eyes wide, body shaking.

Then he glanced at her.

Their eyes met for one fleeting moment.

 _I believe in Mash._

The subconscious mental communication bolstered Mash's flagging will. She turned back to face her shield. She couldn't let Senpai come to harm. She had hurt him, now she would protect him!

Her barrier stopped cracking.

The cracks were still there, 13 cracks still spreading across the face of the shield. But none of them save the one at the top, touched the rim.

A cracked shield. But not yet a shattered one.

 _Just hold a bit longer!_ Mash prayed as she felt the pressure of Excalibur surge against her shield.

"Befall the Wicker Man! And behold, as both good and evil bite the dust!" Caster shouted, his voice rising to match the sound of Excalibur's roar.

The giant emerged in front of Mash, the creak of wood as it flexed and compressed being lost amidst the roar of Excalibur outside the protection. The wooden giant rose, its arms and shoulders appearing, protected against the power of Excalibur by the small barrier.

Mash sighed, her mind and will relaxing as Caster managed to get off his part of the plan. This meant they had won. Her shield had held against Excalibur.

At that very moment, the shield broke.

It shattered into 13 pieces, each spinning away from the others, scattering amidst the end of the power of the strongest sword.

Mash stared, terrified as the blaze of power broke through the spinning fragments.

And lit alight upon the giant who blazed up as the light consumed it, licking at the wood and metal cage, setting them alight, consuming them in a frenzy of power.

Before dying away, all of its power spent.

The group and Saber Alter stared at the battlefield. At where the three Noble Phantasms had met.

Where they had consumed each until nothing was left.

"Not good enough," Saber Alter judged Mash's shield coldly, drawing back her sword and lighting it once more. "EXXXCAAAALIBUUUR-"

"LORD CHALDEAS!" Mash hurried to say, skipping what little of the chant she had given to the power of Lord Chaldeas.

Even if it was weak, even if it wasn't good enough, just as the corrupted Saber had said, it could buy another second, another moment of life.

And Mash couldn't let Ritsuka die behind her. He had saved her! She had to save him! He had to live! She had to give him enough time to run away!

"-MORGAN!" Saber yelled, her Noble Phantasm coming forth in a flurry towards Mash whose shield-like Barrier Noble Phantasm reformed in its path like it had never broken.

Mash gritted her teeth as the pressure of Excalibur bore down on her once again, pressing hard against the extension of her Noble Phantasm.

"Eh, screw that. I'm not shortcutting here," Caster said, shaking his head. "My spell is the coffin of flames-"

The circle of magical power formed in front of Mash once again.

"Run, Senpai!" Mash yelled, keeping her eyes forward, praying that she could last long enough for her Master to escape. "You too, Director!"

"-a giant of verdant thorn. Retribution-"

"Run? Run!?" Olga shrieked, clutching her hair at her temples. "Run where? _That_ is an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm! Nothing can block it! The only thing that can is a superior barrier type Noble Phantasm!"

"-the forest that will purify human misery."

Mash's heart wavered and a crack appeared on the shield.

That was a good point. They couldn't win. The altered Saber's Noble Phantasm was too strong. It had taken two Noble Phantasms to block it.

But Saber's Noble Phantasm couldn't be stopped. It had torn through the rock, vaporizing it in a flash. If Olga and Ritsuka fled, they would be open to Saber blasting them in the back.

And the tunnels would not be able to save them from Saber. All she had to do was blast the tunnels and everyone inside would die.

"Just hold on Mash!" Ritsuka shouted, his encouragement barely making it into Mash's ears.

"But I can't do it, Senpai!" Mash shouted back. "It broke last time. It'll only happen again!"

Suddenly, a hand landed on her shoulder, causing her to start. In her distraction, another crack appeared, running down towards the bottom of the shield.

"But it held!" Ritsuka said in her ear, hope in his voice. "It saved us already!"

"But it cracked, Senpai. It broke," Mash shook her head, watching as another surge of black power crashed down on her only Noble Phantasm. "It can't hold."

"But it held it off! That's all we need, right?" Ritsuka asked, a fervor in his voice. "We just need your shield to last through the blast, right?"

Mash nodded, her mind feeling the pressure of standing against Excalibur's light again.

"Then take my magic too!" the boy yelled, his voice carrying into Mash's ears and soul. "If your own isn't strong enough, then use mine as well. Your Noble Phantasm almost did it before, Mash. If you use my magic as well, then you can win! We don't need your shield to last forever, just long enough that Saber Alter has to enter cool down."

Irrationally, Mash's heart took courage at that. She was already using her Master's energy to bolster her own. But if Senpai wanted her to use all of his energy, nothing held back-

Then maybe that would be enough.

With a revitalized will, Mash seized upon the Master-Servant bond and pulled the energy through. Ritsuka's Od, the feeling of another human, warmth and skin just like his hand back when he had introduced with a handshake, willingly surged through the bond and flooded into her circuits before pouring out into Lord Chaldeas.

The shield held, the cracks in the Noble Phantasm shrinking slightly as the two, Master and Servant stood as one against the overwhelming might of Excalibur.

"Befall the Wicker Man! And behold, as both good and evil bite the dust!" Caster finished, his face cracking wide into a grin. He knew she could do it!

The shield held firm, cracked, but still together, the mighty Excalibur pushing and scratching at it like a ravenous dragon only to be rebuffed. And behind the tumultuous clash, the Wicker Man climbed out of its circle.

* * *

Saber Alter would have cursed if it didn't waste breath.

The shield was holding. The symbol of unity and strength, carried by someone not of either her court or knights, held against her most powerful weapon.

Perhaps, she could blast through the shield again. Perhaps, the power that she used without restraint could overcome the shield.

But she was weak, her mana drained. She had taken herself nearly down to nothing killing Berserker all 12 times. Assassin's sneak attack after her victory had only brought her to the verge of death.

If it hadn't been for Archer dragging her here after she killed the cowardly Assassin, she might have perished despite the high mana density of the atmosphere. Here, where the Grail was, she had rested and recovered.

But a day of recovery was simply not enough to restore her to even half strength. Only enough for her to use her cursed 'gift' to raise the two newest additions to her forces into a state of undeath.

It was disgusting. But for the sake of her kingdom and the sake of the Grail War, Saber Alter could not fail!

And right now, defeat was looking much more likely than before.

Behind the clash of Excalibur's light and the shield's barrier, Saber could see the giant Wicker Man rising into the air.

Should she switch her attack to the giant? Or the shield?

If she broke the shield, Caster would perish. If she destroyed the giant, she would have to try again.

And right now, it looked like the shield wasn't going to break.

"Tch," she clicked her tongue and shifted her blade up, causing the beam of light to ascend until it was no longer landing against the shield but now lighting upon the giant behind it.

The head was blown off in an instant but the body was still huddled behind the barrier.

And now the giant was crouching, big body huddled up behind 'Lord Chaldeas'. It was insulting to call the defensive Noble Phantasm by that name.

However, the tactic was sound. Saber Alter didn't have enough power to last long on this fight.

She didn't have a Master while her opponents did. They had an extra source of mana while she had only herself and the Grail to count on.

She abruptly cut the energy flow to Excalibur, causing the beam to cease. Taking that now free energy, she pulled it to her legs before shooting it off behind her, rocketing her entire body forward with a jump.

But not directly to the shield. That would be foolish. No, she rocketed to the side of the projected shield.

And once there, she pivoted, depending on her sudden movement, her D-rank agility and the sudden loss of her corrupted light to keep the enemy off guard.

Now, she could see them without the barrier in the way. She could see Mash Kyrielight, the Shielder Servant, standing before her, the Demi-Servant's head slowly twisting towards Saber, visible eye wide, as Saber prepared herself to charge and take down the only one whose Noble Phantasm could block hers.

"Ah!" Caster yelled, lunging forward, his staff held in a lunging position like it was a spear. "Sh-"

Saber struck, her arms expelling another prana burst, cutting the staff into two, Caster only just managing to withdraw his hand in time.

She was using Excalibur. A staff had nothing on her strongest sword.

But that would be thinking too much. She needed to win. For the sake of her kingdom, she needed to win.

Caster and Saber both jumped back as a giant wooden fist landed where they had stood.

But Saber wasn't going to let up.

She had lost too much to give up now.

She rocketed forward, speeding past the fist still embedded in the ground towards Shielder.

Saber was the strongest Servant. She had bested Heracles and she was not about to lose here.

But the sacrifice of Caster's staff was well spent.

Shielder blocked the blow, Excalibur bouncing off of the shield.

 _Tsk._ _Figures that the shield itself would be strong enough to repel Excalibur._

Saber ignored the two humans stumbling away from the sudden fight inside the barrier, taking the opportunity to get her sword into a low guard before heaving upwards into the shield.

The shield went up, flying high but still in the Servant's grip while Shielder's surprised face appeared from behind where the shield used to be.

Saber took the chance, kicking off the ground, sword at the ready to run the girl through.

But Instinct flared up, warning her of danger.

She blasted prana forward, canceling her charge and accelerating back herself away from the spot.

As she descended from her jump, she saw the Wicker Man's second fist land in front of the girl, where it would have crushed her if Saber had pressed her attack.

This fight was taking too long, Saber Alter concluded. If she was her noble self, she might have accepted it as a worthy challenge, a battle of honor.

Saber Alter on the other hand, had no room for honor or chivalry.

The second before landing, Saber Alter prepared to crouch, to move the second her feet hit the ground.

When she felt the jolt of her armored feet collide with the ground, she kicked off, blasting forward with her full speed.

She did not hold back. She did not deign to fight the opponent on their level. She would fight with all of her might and defeat them.

She ducked the smaller of the two pieces of wood that used to be Caster's staff, its sheared end about to collide with her head.

But the enemies expected that as the slightly taller girl swung her shield towards Saber's landing spot and Caster's bigger half of his staff was also moving to hit the same spot from the other direction. Due to her earlier dodge, Saber couldn't move so smoothly to get out of the trap.

Saber landed there, not even a moment to spare as she switched Excalibur to her off-hand, her dominant hand stretching towards Caster.

CLANG!

The sword met the center of the shield.

The gauntlet caught hold of the staff.

The dust settled in the brief lull, Saber in between her opponents, arms outstretched like a man holding two pillars apart.

Then Caster expertly twirled his staff around, its perpendicular head arcing towards the back of her knee.

Saber grip on the staff tightened as she let his movement twirl her into the air, a sideways black spinning top spinning around her arm.

Her armored boot lashed out, aiming to kick the blue haired man's head in.

Caster grinned, the sight of which annoyed her.

"Not quite," he said, his other hand letting go of the staff to show that it had a hidden rock inside the palm.

Saber drew her foot back, wary of Caster's undoubtedly enchanted hidden rune, using the mid-air motion to help bring her sword around towards the faster Servant, determined to end his life and win this war.

Once Caster was out of the way, she will have won the Grail War with the rightful spoil to use the Grail as she pleased.

A right that she would use to save her kingdom from the ongoing destruction.

Caster let go of his staff, a foolish move if it hadn't included the ground beneath the robed Servant glowing blue with a sudden rune. He must have used his feet to make it.

Saber's eyes darted towards it. It wasn't dangerous to her, her instinct let her know that. But it did look like one of the runes that Merlin used for his teleportation trick.

Caster vanished, leaving Saber mid-air and out of position, one hand with his staff and the other holding her sword.

Vulnerable.

Saber violently ejected her prana, tumbling through the air just as the girl's shield landed on her arm.

Saber involuntarily hissed as pain flared up her arm. If she hadn't started moving with the strike before it landed, undoubtedly, she would have broken a limb. As it were, it was just pain.

Saber landed and skidded to a halt, sword and staff digging into and through the ground, letting her take an upright, if crouched, position while rock and dust sprayed out around her, clamoring with sound like one of her kingdom's stone quarries.

She spun around towards her two opponents, discarding the staff as she did so. She didn't need it. She had Excalibur Morgan and it was better wielded by two hands.

Her first sight was of Caster using both of his hands to sketch glowing runes into the air while the Wicker Man was in the middle of taking a step towards her. Shielder had her head cocked to some instructions shouted at her from the white-haired magus. Saber hadn't been able to hear the beginning over the thunderous racket of her landing.

"-field for Caster!"

Saber rocketed forward. She couldn't let Caster finish what he was doing neither could she let the Wickerman herd her. She was not some sheep to be herded as her enemies willed. She was the lion, the ruler of the savannah and king of the flock! And what of it if the Grail was telling her that lions didn't defend sheep?

"Lord Chaldeas!" Shielder yelled as she slammed the center of her shield into the ground.

The Noble Phantasm formed, its spherical surface curving upwards, looking like a shallow bowl.

And Saber's prana burst landed her on the inside curved surface of the dish, about to slide towards the center, where the girl was crouched, shield down.

Saber immediately rocketed upwards, escaping the bowl which undoubtedly would be a trap where the enemy controlled the battlefield while her ally fired in on her. Even if she killed the girl, Caster was speeding through runes at a prodigious speed. She would kill the girl only to die alongside her. Unacceptable. She did not lose.

But that wasn't to say the air was safe either.

Saber's yellow eyes widened as one large wooden fist flew towards her -how could something so large move so quickly?- before expending another prana burst to fly through the air.

It was too expensive. To fly in the air without strengthening her muscles with prana burst reduced the effectiveness of the movement. In order to do so, she would spend over 5 times the energy for a similar speed. And each burst of movement would have to overpower the previous burst's momentum as well, causing the cost to escalate quickly.

In her state, she couldn't afford an aerial battle because her prana would run out and it would not be spent on killing her enemies. Besides, any strikes made in mid-air would lose the advantage of having the ground to stabilize her enough to use her most powerful strikes.

She had to be strong, had to be powerful.

 _A girl shouldn't be swinging swords around, all the more so if you're hurt._

She shoved away the sudden memory of Shirou before the Singularity had started.

She was a king, not a woman. She was in a fight for her life. She had no time for naïve ideals from people who thought that they should protect her and then got insulted when herself was called a monster. Saber Alter was a monster. The monstrous Tyrant of Knights, the real identity of what a king should be. Calling her a monster was just the truth.

And there she was again, her thoughts turning back to her most recent failure. She really shouldn't have let herself become distracted by her former Master. Even conversing with him had been a mistake. Albeit, she had managed to get out the frustration of watching him take the hit from Berserker in her place, which had been a benefit. But letting her emotions loose for that long meant that Shirou had been able to respond. Able to talk with her. Able to distract her.

Even if watching him vanish from reality in front of her had gone down as one of her failures. She was a Servant, her Master's sword. To watch her Master vanish and be helpless, unable to do anything…

She hated it. She hated being weak, being powerless, being useless!

Even with the 'gift', she couldn't abandon her Master so easily. Even having the artificial change come over her, taking away her honor, trust, chivalry and nobility, it was not easy for her to fail, even if it was for the best interests of her kingdom.

And she knew all too well that it hadn't been.

Saber Alter shook her head, breaking free from her thoughts and contemplations. The Emiya family was a weakness, a distraction. The boy was unlike his father but similar in the way that he held her back. Held her back from fighting as she had pleased.

But right now, her duty was to win this fight. Even if her former Master were here, she would still fight him, no mercy, no sympathy, no pity.

That being said, Saber was well aware that her recent thoughts of Shirou were truly a distraction. A distraction that she couldn't afford on the battlefield.

Her Instinct was blaring, warning her that death would come if she stayed in the air.

She rocketed out of the way of one fist, only to find her feet on top of the other wooden hand as it also flew underneath her, but above the first wooden arm.

She reacted instantly, prana blasting out of her legs as she made her way up the giant. If she could shoot downwards with Excalibur, she could destroy the Wicker Man and resume killing the two Servants.

Then a rock zoomed into the space in front of her eyes, thrown by the non-Master of the two normal humans.

Saber's eyes saw a rune, carved into and glowing with light on one side of the rock.

Runecraft!

She immediately kicked off from the giant, getting away from the rune.

Her magic resistance should be strong enough to resist the rune, but her instinct was telling her that she was still in danger. She didn't know how, but she knew she was in danger, more danger of death than if she had stayed and waited for the Wicker-Man to get out from behind the shield.

Her mind quickly figured out how the rune could be dangerous. If the rune targeted something other than her, like if it dropped an obstacle on her while she was on the giant, she would be stopped, even if only for a fraction of a second. And her Magic Resistance wasn't A rank, able to dispel high ranking spells that didn't target her.

But a fraction of a second would be too long in a fight. Immobility here in this battle would quickly transform into death.

The runestone suddenly blazed, its magic exerted.

Saber felt the pull as the stone pulled on everything around it. It wasn't strong enough to lift the giant, nor was it far reaching enough to pull anyone off from the ground.

But it was strong enough to momentarily halt her drop through the air as the momentarily pulse exerted itself on anything close to the upper half of the giant.

Saber let loose a burst of prana from the crown of her head, trying to propel herself down to the ground.

Then the giant pitched forward, the metal cage in the torso falling on a collision course towards her.

Saber's eyes narrowed and she burst again, trying to accelerate herself to the ground and away from the wooden Noble Phantasm.

Beneath her, Shielder had flipped her shield and Noble Phantasm, creating a shell around her, rendering her practically untouchable. Like a castle on a mountain cliff with no safe way in save from underground.

Then, Saber's Instinct warned her.

Although even without Instinct, she would have known she was in danger. She could feel the heat of the fire flying towards her back from where Caster had been writing his runes.

A looming giant above, raging fire beneath, Saber Alter hung between the two. No escape.

Which meant that it was time to do something reckless.

"EXCALLIBUR MORGAN!" she yelled, as she flung prana out opposite directions from her arms, rapidly spinning her body around to point the tip of her black sword towards Caster.

The quick blast from her sword wasn't strong. Not when compared to even her earlier strikes. But all she needed to do was to kill Caster first.

Behind the wall of bright red fire, Caster opened his mouth to exclaim as he watched the black light rush towards him, breaking through and destroying the fire where they collided.

Then the rim of a glowing shield interposed itself, its bright blue glowing circles intercepting her Noble Phantasm and dispersing it in all directions except towards the Irish Servant. Shielder had leapt up from her turtled position, extending her defense to cover her ally.

As Saber rocketed backwards from the backlash of firing her Noble Phantasm mid-air, she let herself continue to spin, Noble Phantasm still streaming out from her sword.

The resulting spiral circle of destruction carved its way through air and rock, laying a line across a third of the cave and cutting through one arm of Caster's Noble Phantasm as it closed in on her location.

With the giant's arm being cut and destroyed, Saber could see the main body of the giant out of the corner of her eye.

The metal cage door was open.

Saber Alter couldn't accelerate her spin fast enough. She needed to cut through the giant before it caught-

OOPH!

A great force slammed into her back, instantly driving her tumbling body towards the metal cage. Her arms spun back around, beam landing on Lord Chaldeas again to no effect. It must have been the other hand. Caster had tried to surround her!

 _This will not be my end!_ Saber fiercely thought as she tried to bring Excalibur Morgan around to blast through the cage and earn her freedom.

Of course, that was the moment the wooden floor beneath her and the wooden poles making up the walls of the cage caught on fire.

And by caught on fire, she meant, blazed into flames hotter than anything she had ever felt before.

Saber screamed as the pain, heat, and fire flew into her clothes and armor, burning the fabric and instantly heating the surface of her armor red.

She had to get it off!

She dispelled the heavy armor, trying to get about to be melting metal off of her body!

But the fire didn't stop, consuming the clothes that were mystically underneath her armor and burning into her body.

It was a Noble Phantasm! Her magic resistance wouldn't work against it!

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" she screamed, the agony scorching all over her body.

It hurt! It hurt! IT HURT!

As Saber's mind screamed from the anguish of fire, her memories flashed to the only comparison she had.

The dream cycle from her Master. While she had slept, waiting for Shirou to wake up after he had taken her blow from Berserker, her dreams had started playing through Shirou's life. Starting from Shirou's most definitive experience.

 _Is this what Shirou felt in that fire?_ A part of Saber wondered underneath the part shrieking in pain as the fires started consuming into her skin.

 _No,_ she remembered of the dream cycle. _To him, the corruption and evil all lay outside him, amidst the fire._

 _Here, the evil is inside me._

But if it let her Master stay pure, if it let her kingdom prosper, then she was fine with being evil. She was a king. It was her duty to suffer for her kingdom. BUT THE FIRE STILL HURT!

Through the burning agony of her roasted skin, Saber could barely feel the thud of the Wicker-Man hitting the ground, its wood consumed by its caster's own flame.

* * *

Ritsuka watched the fast pace and crazy battle in wide-eyed amazement.

This fight made the earlier ones look lame.

Saber was a burst and a zoom, crossing the battlefield before he had even seen her move, reappearing inside Mash's Noble Phantasm. And her beam attack before had been terrifying, yet awe-inspiring.

Seeing her fire it mid-air after she flew through the air, yet trapped between Caster's Wicker Man and the wall of fire was even more so.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

But now, he could hear her scream as the wooden giant turned into a bonfire with Saber inside, suffering the full heat of the sudden flames.

Ritsuka shivered despite the heat of the fire he could feel from here. The fire felt like it was pressing away on him and drying his throat, its heat a physical burden and its light almost blinding. Even so, Ritsuka's eyes squinted into the blaze, rapidly blinking, and feeling sympathetic to his opponent.

 _It sounds so painful,_ he thought as a trickle of sweat ran down his forehead. _I can't just let her die like this. Not alone like that._

But before he could think of what he could even do, the fire cut out, vanishing like a dream, leaving only a dusting of ashes and a single lump in the midst.

Ritsuka's jaw dropped.

She was still alive!?

He was sweating from just the heat and he was over 20 meters away! She was in the center of it and was still alive?! How?!

The lump stirred.

"Shirou," a faint voice said before she repeated herself, sounding stronger. "Shirou."

"What is it, Saber?" the Japanese man in Chaldea said, voice heavy yet gentle. Ritsuka could hear the sympathy in his voice. Along with a whole mess of conflicting emotions.

Ritsuka suspected that he hadn't been the only one who watched her burn to death the whole time. And it sounded like it had been harder for the older Japanese man.

"Did-" the woman coughed, flecks of black coming out. "Did we win?"

"Yes, Saber, we won." Shirou's voice softened into what Ritsuka could tell was a sad but fond remembrance. "You defeated the King of Heroes and won the war."

Ritsuka could see the woman try to get to her feet. It was rather difficult as he couldn't even see if she still had feet. Not under the layers of black ash the once blond Servant was now wearing.

"Good." She rasped out, her voice sounding like, well, like she had just gone through a smoke filled fire. "Nothing less would have been acceptable."

She sounded so sure of herself. Like she was declaring a fact of nature.

Maybe there was some truth to Servants being more than human, Ritsuka slowly realized as he watched her use both arms and her sword to stand. Not just superheroes, but something greater than what a human could be. People of legend in bodies rivaling that of superheroes.

"If I fight alone, I will always meet the same end," she continued, her voicing slowly gaining strength as she straightened. "Shirou, take my thanks for fighting alongside me in the proper past to the end."

"I couldn't do anything else," Shirou Emiya, demurred. "It was only natural to fight with you Saber. Even if you are a different form of her. And Saber, I'm sorry for how I said that earlier. I just couldn't accept you as someone that she could be and I said it in a pointlessly cruel way."

"There was none taken," The black Servant coughed. It might have sounded like a laugh but flecks of black and gold splattered out of her mouth before rising into the air. Now that Ritsuka was looking closer, he could see that from beneath the ashes, flakes of gold and black kept on leaping off of her body. "You never were good at accepting reality."

Shirou laughed but it was flat and harsh. It was a laugh that came because of a bad joke, like someone was laughing at a cruel irony.

"Yet it still hurt you," Shirou said, haunting regret audible in every word. "You can't lie to me, Saber. I shouldn't have hurt you, shouldn't have denied your existence. No one should have that happen to them. I'm sorry."

"Enough of this," the defeated and burned king and knight declared, but was that hidden embarrassment in her voice?

Ritsuka's fascination with the possibility that their opponent was an even crueler tsundere than the director came to an abrupt halt as her yellow eyes fell on him.

He trembled beneath her gaze. She was so strong and so ruthless. She was burned, nearly to death, yet now that he was meeting her eyes, he would believe anyone who said that they had lost and she had won.

He only blinked when a pink head of hair stepped between them, her black shield held up like to protect him while her armored body stood shakily between the two.

Mash.

"Hey, not to interrupt this lover's chat," an Irish accented voice carried into the silence. It had only been a moment, but under Saber's eyes, it had stretched on what felt like forever. "But are you actually going to die or do we have to fight again? I wouldn't mind another round!"

"You have won, Ireland's Child of Light. This skirmish, and the Grail, is yours," the Servant said dismissively, her eyes never leaving Ritsuka or Mash.

"Shirou, Mash, Ritsuka." Saber Alter ordered, Ritsuka snapping to attention as he saw Mash enter a parade stance in front of him. The king's voice was powerful, demanding everyone's attention. Ritsuka would later learn was that this was her Charisma skill, causing people to pay her attention and their respect. Saber continued speaking, her body breaking apart into golden and black motes of mana, her sword too, but the Servant was holding onto her vanishing life by nothing but her force of will. "I have been defeated and cannot carry on my duty any longer. As the Tyrant of Knights, I render unto you three the charge of carrying out the Grand Order. Fulfill it well, for Our kingdom depends on it."

Her royal words were still ringing through the air when her body finally broke into a thousand motes of mana, an expanding and illusive shower of black and gold.

* * *

Shirou watched Saber die again, dissolving into a mist of mana flakes.

And he grieved, ignoring Caster's final words to the group before he also vanished into golden particles.

No, this wasn't his Saber. This was another Saber.

But she was still Arturia. She was still the girl that had grown up in her foster father's care. She was still the woman who had taken the throne, casting herself aside to do a job that would kill her and steal her happiness.

But she was a different woman. A different version of Arturia. Not his Arturia. But someone she could have become if Arturia had made different choices.

Like a twin, Shirou rationalized, the product of his mind struggling with the very concept of Saber Alter. She was someone who was like Arturia but became someone different. Same birthplace, same family, same origin. Yet someone who grew up to be different. Made different choices, had different morals and lived a different life. Similar, in some ways identical, yet different.

Shirou slumped back into his seat.

Even with the flawed idea of Saber Alter being like a twin, Shirou didn't think he would ever grasp the full concept.

Arturia was a woman worthy of being a Heroic Spirit who could be summoned as a Servant. Yet, not all versions of Arturia would be like her. Some could be summoned in different classes. And some would have different personalities. But they would still be Arturia.

Honestly, this was sounding like one of those painful logic puzzles that Rin loved to use his head for a sounding board while she pounded the puzzle like he would tenderize tough meat until it was as flat as a pancake.

Arturia was the woman he fallen in love with. Saber Alter, as the Command Center was now calling her, was someone she could have become if she had made different choices.

Shirou rubbed his temples, the pain in his head refusing to lessen.

Even now that Saber Alter was dead, the pain in his head wasn't getting better.

Or was it in his head? Was it actually his soul? Was it coming from his Reality Marble stretching and adjusting to its new occupant, the copying only permitted by the tyrant's dying order?

Or was it the grief? The grief of watching a twin of the woman he loved die? Die painfully, in fire like the one he had walked through all those many years ago?

Shirou didn't know.

But he did know that his thoughts couldn't focus on watching the graphs in front of him.

Not with Saber dead. Not with the charge she had given him in her dying wish.

Grand Order.

What was that? Shirou knew of the First Order, that was what they were doing, the prioritization of ensuring the certainty of mankind. Saving the world and humanity before they even needed to be saved.

There had been no one more eager than him at the news of the new directive. It was why he had volunteered to be tested as a Master only to find out that his readings were inconclusive so they wouldn't let him be a Master.

In contrast to that feeling of excitement, all he felt now was pain and grief.

But now with Saber Alter dead, he just couldn't get over this feeling. This grief that he had felt just like when his Arturia had left him forever after they had destroyed the Grail. Forever until the two of them could accomplish a miracle.

But he had to. He had to get over this. Both Saber Alter and Arturia had loved her kingdom of Camelot. And Saber Alter, in her final moments, had charged him with her kingdom.

It could be that Saber Alter was seeking to prevent herself from being chosen as king, Shirou contemplated, trying to think past the painful pulse of his heartbeat in his ears. It was what Arturia had done until she thought better of it.

But no. Shirou didn't think so. Saber had always referred to her wish for the Grail as redoing the selection and getting a better king. But Saber Alter referred to carrying out a Grand Order like it was some sort of quest.

It could be that this was a difference between Arturia and Saber Alter, Shirou hoped. Saber Alter might have been begging, in her own proud Arturia-like way, that they use Rayshift to save Camelot.

But she wouldn't. To Saber, her failure as a king was her responsibility. Shirou couldn't see Arturia ever deciding to let another carry her burden unless they could have done the job better.

But maybe Saber Alter was different.

Shirou closed his eyes.

And all of his thoughts, his worries and concerns didn't matter. The last few minutes of thinking, of struggling to think past this pain in his brain, all of it had been a futile diversion.

He honestly couldn't devote his thoughts and concern to them.

Not right now.

Not with the feeling of loss echoing through him. Like someone had taken his arm or his heart away and he just wanted to feel it again.

But Saber Alter was not his Arturia, Shirou reminded himself, hoping that his heart would listen to the logic.

No such luck. Shirou was too stubborn to let logic and reason or even common sense stand in the way of his dreams. That was how he formed his Reality Marble after all.

Only made sense for his heart to be just as stubborn in its grief as it had been in the rest of his life.

She hadn't been Arturia. Shirou's head knew. Her sword, Excalibur Morgan, had reaffirmed that. It had been used without honor, without compassion and chivalry. All things that Arturia had valued and would not forsake.

As conversation in the Command Center broke out into another frenzy, Shirou ignored it all and gave in to his emotions.

He grieved.

He sorrowed for the loss of Arturia, both his love and this different one.

He mourned for the long separation between him and Arturia.

He silently lamented that he had helped put down an Arturia that could have been. He was glad his Arturia wasn't her, but he still grieved for his part in ending someone so much like her.

And most of all, he grieved for the sake of a woman who had given her all for a kingdom.

He grieved for the love of his life.

* * *

 **I thought that was a good place to end the chapter.**

 **Yes, I know that Mash's Noble Phantasm is strong enough to survive Excalibur. But it was more dramatic this way, no? Also, Mash's mentality is shaken by her encounter with Berserker. And her Noble Phantasm depends on her resolution and determination as well as her heart. A shaken heart isn't the best at resisting an A++ rank Noble Phantasm. (And I could play a bit with the symbolism of Lord Chaldeas a bit this way.)**

 **A second thing is that due to Shirou's affinity for weapons he can read the past of a weapon even if it is in the Singularity and he isn't. But Mash's shield doesn't fully qualify so he can't read it.**

* * *

 **And reeseisthatbeast wrote an omake for the chapter. With his permission, I've put it up here.**

"Any weaknesses you remember?" Olga asks

Shirou thought about how to answer Olga. He didn't want to tell her about Saber's insecurities. Then, Shirou remembered more of his time with saber and her love of his cooking...… his cooking. Maybe instead of defeating her... huh maybe this could work.

"She doesn't have any does she?" Olga responded to Shirou's silence, Mash shivering in fear at the idea of facing someone that powerful.

"I think I have an idea, just trust me, ok?" Shirou stated to Olga "She has one weakness only I can use, and it may turn her to our side"

"What can you use against KING ARTHUR?!" Olga exclaimed.

Shirou looked at Olga "You guys really didn't read my resume, did you? I'm a 4-5 star chef, and if you don't believe me, just watch."

Upon entering the cave that the grail resides in and gazing upon its splendor. Shirou's eyes drifted towards saber and how utterly wrong she looks, her eyes once green now a sickly yellow, and her hair, once a luxurious blond specked with gold, was now a pale blond. Her battle attire that once was a deep blue dress with a silvery steel armor protecting her torso, arms and hips, was now a dark inky black dress with an equally black armor. Red lines that gave the appearance of blood spatter around Saber's waist, pulsed as if they were veins carrying an essential fluid. Even Excalibur was tainted! The sword's history showing Shirou things that didn't happen to his Artoria, that couldn't have happened to his Artoria! ...Yet they had.

"Artoria," Shirou stated with emotion in his voice. "What happened to you? You've changed."

"Shirou, I see you've made some new friends. To answer your question, I really don't know what you mean. I've always been like this, I am the so called Tyrant of Knights after all," Artoria Alter stated.

"Well if you were once my Artoria, then you know I have one thing I can give you if you will work with us." Shirou responds.

Saber Alter gave him a look "Ae you bribing me with food?"

"I'm bribing you with MY food," Shirou fires back as Saber Alter got a contemplative look.

"Servant with the pink hair! Catch this and do not lose it," Saber Alter told Mash as she tossed Avalon at her. "You owe me a feast, Shirou, summon me when you have the adequate supplies." Saber Alter said to the stunned spectators, and began to fade away.

At the Throne of Heroes, Saber Alter was surprised to see how many "sisters" she has, but suddenly had an idea, an evil idea. "When one of us is going to be summoned by a master we need to grab onto each other, Shirou promised a feast." Saber Alter told the other Artorias, causing the original Artoria to freeze and quickly agree to the plan, before beginning to convince the others to agree.

A few months have passed and Chaldea has made some progress against the Singularities, from which the Chaldeans obtained various foodstuffs and raw materials. Shirou had a sense of foreboding as he entered the summoning chamber with Mash and Ritsuka, Mash holding onto Avalon as Ritsuka began summoning more Servants to help their quest in saving humanity.

In a flash of light, Saber Alter appeared and as the light fades more Arturias became visible, one by one.

Shirou looked around in shock at the amount of Artorias currently in front of him. Then he remembered that he promised one of them a feast. They'll all want-no demand a feast.

This will not end well.


	15. Checklist 14: Save Your Superior!

**A.N. I'm just going to warn you. Some of you will be upset about a reveal/plot twist. I'm not planning on changing it.** **Just because you are the hero or protagonist does not mean you always win.**

 **Checklist 14: Save Your Superior!**

While Shirou ignored the outside world to mourn, others didn't have the luxury.

Romani Archaman was one such.

"No," he whispered as his friend Lev Lainur declared that he had killed Olga, planting the bomb beneath her feet. "No, that can't be."

Lev had been Olga's friend for years. Ever since they first met here in Chaldea, Lev and Olga had struck up a friendship like the one that Roman and Lev had cultivated.

But Lev's words made too much sense. Fit the facts too well, Roman concluded even as he felt sick to the stomach.

They had never found a trace of Lev. Yet they had found at least blood smears of Olga's body. And the bomb in the command center had been smaller than the one planted to hit the Masters.

Another thing was that TRIMEGISTUS had been constantly reporting some strange yet consistent readings on Olga. Readings that didn't make sense for a living body to have. He had just guessed that it was just damage or sabotage and would get around to it once the Rayshift was over. Wasn't like he could force a recall on the director without getting into trouble.

Yet even then, Olga didn't even have a body to transfer back to here in Chaldea. And now he knew it wasn't kidnapped. It was dead and gone in tiny, not even finger sized, pieces.

And Olga couldn't be inside a Rayshift. Shirou's Rayshift test had results that simply didn't make sense but Olga's flat out said that she simply couldn't do it.

While the thoughts scurried like hamsters in Roman's head, something happened outside.

Roman didn't have the senses to detect magecraft. He didn't even have magic circuits. He did have some medical devices and tools that Atlas had developed and sold to Chaldea but he had no way to use healing magecraft without getting a magus to do it. He could teach the theory if he needed to but this body couldn't do the implementation of Mysteries.

But you didn't need to have magic circuits to see a link in space and across time appear in both the hologram and in the room beyond the glass in front of him.

Gasps were heard all around as Chaldea faced the magnitude of what had just happened.

Lev Lainur had just done the impossible with the Holy Grail. He had linked two different places, separated in time by over a decade, going from a Singularity into the present.

And now he was blaming Olga for CHALDEAS's condition. Saying that the victory of Chaldea here was responsible for the First Order. That Olga was the threat to mankind.

If Roman trusted Lev right now, he might have believed it.

Except…

Except Lev had never acted like this.

Seconds later, Roman's mind kicked in and added logic to his feelings. Lev had the Grail right now. Not Olga.

Restoring humanity could be something Lev might be able to accomplish with the Grail. But with how he was using that power, it was looking like Lev was working against restoring humanity's future.

"Don't- Don't be absurd!" Olga yelled, wheeling on Lev and point at him challengingly. "I'm not responsible! I didn't fail! I'm not dead!"

Roman admitted that Olga was partly right. She hadn't failed. She had found the source of the Singularity and eliminated it.

Now if only she didn't sound like she was petulantly denying it, it might actually be convincing.

"Who are you? And what have you done to my CHALDEAS!" she continued, stomping up to Lev to stare him angrily in the face.

"I am Lev Lainur Flauros," Lev said, looking rather annoyed. "And CHALDEAS isn't 'yours'."

Roman gasped. No way. He knew that name, Flauros. But it couldn't be.

That was impossible. He knew that it couldn't be possible. Surely Flauros and the others must be dead by now.

That would mean something that couldn't be true. He knew it to be false.

Must be another seeking to use that name. It was the only thing that made sense.

"Honestly," Lev said, shaking his head as if he was struck with an annoying thing that he wished he could disbelieve. "What an annoying girl you are!"

Olga recoiled, looking like she had just been slapped across the face by a dear friend.

Her look of shock and betrayal was only eclipsed by fear when she started to rise into the air, obviously not under her own power.

"What? Something's pulling-" she gasped, body twitching but not doing anything even as she started flying backwards towards the portal through time. "My body-! "

"I told you," Roman shuddered at the malicious glee his friend was showing, looking like something Roman had only seen in the most unrepentant of criminals. "This place is now connected with Chaldea. I could just kill you now, but there is no grace to that."

"Instead, I will grant your final wish." Roman watched in horror as the evil smile on Lev's face grew even wider until it was almost inhuman. "Go ahead and lay hands on your treasure! Benevolence from my part!"

"What-What do you mean? My treasure?" Olga was still struggling as she screamed, sweat beading onto her face as her already white skin paled to an unbelievable shade. "You mean CHALDEAS? No, please stop! Not CHALDEAS! It's a high-density body of data! A dimensional anomaly!"

"Yesss!" Lev hissed in fiendish glee like a diabolical child pulling off the wings of an insect. "No different from a black hole! Or perhaps a sun. Either way, a human touching it would experience a hellish disintegration on the molecular level. By all means, have a taste of infinite! Living! Death!"

"No! No, no!" Olga screamed as her twitches redoubled. But she was now crossing over between areas, traveling from the past into the present. "Someone help me! Help! I-I don't want to die here!"

Roman could hear her scream even as he could see her body appear in the Central area, still in mid-air. At this distance, he couldn't see her twitching. But she was still floating towards CHALDEAS. Her speed decreasing as she protested and screamed and pleaded, trying to oppose her death sentence.

Roman could only watch, as she got closer and closer, each agonizing foot taking longer to cross as her pleas increased in fervor and desperation, yet still trapped in an inescapable grasp.

Why?

Why, Lev?

What could possibly be worth betraying mankind? What could make killing Olga Marie, your friend, worth this!

"Nooo! Stop! I haven't even accomplished anything yet! I've never been praised by anyone! No, no, no!"

As Olga's screams hit a new high note, the window between the command center and the chamber cracked.

Roman's eyes widened as the control room's magically reinforced, bullet-proof glass window cracked and the cracks spread farther and farther, racing across the transparent barrier.

Amazing! He didn't know that Olga could crack or shatter glass with just her voice!

It did explain why his ears always hurt after she screamed at him though.

Now if only she hadn't revealed this talent in her last moments of life…

Think of the YouTube videos she could have starred in.

Amidst the ridiculous thoughts, a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye and the sound of two crashes drew Roman's attention away from Olga.

And towards the red and white-haired tanned man throwing a third Noble Phantasm at the window, cracking the glass like a spider web starting from where the sword had landed. A fourth Noble Phantasm appeared from mid-air, landing in the man's empty hand.

Oh, it wasn't Olga. It was just Shirou throwing four weak Noble Phantasm swords at the barrier. That made _much_ more sense than Olga's voice being able to crack glass.

Roman's eyes drifted back to Olga, watching her last moments as she continued her horrifying descent into an eternal dying hell. For the sake of Marisbury, he would watch Olga's final moments.

He had to say in the privacy of his thoughts, it was honestly a little bit relieving that Olga didn't have a voice that could crack glass. He wouldn't need to check his eardrums for damage. The windows on the other hand, would be extremely expensive to replace after being hit by Noble Phantasms thrown by a normal human-

Wait, what!

* * *

Amidst Shirou's grief, a sound was heard.

It wasn't the loudest sound. Nor was it a soft sound.

But it was a series of words that Shirou knew. Words that neither his conscious nor subconscious could choose to ignore.

Shirou heard someone asking for help and his dream wouldn't let him ignore that.

When he looked up, and listened, getting a grasp on what was going on, Shirou knew he had to act.

Olga Marie Animusphere was in danger and needed help. Or she would die.

And Shirou would never refuse that call to action, to save someone.

So, while everyone else was still paralyzed by surprise, shock, and betrayal, Shirou stood up.

Shirou's mind shunted his emotions aside as he started to think and walk away from his chair on the bottom level of the command center.

Saber was dead. He had just watched a version of her die in front of him. But she would want him to live his dream and save the person in front of him if she was here.

And yes, his boss, Lev Lainur, the head of the engineers and technicians, had just betrayed him and everyone else in Chaldea.

Unimportant. The additional feelings of grief, pain, and betrayal will interfere with saving the director.

The impossibility of forcing a bridge between the past and present.

Surprise was not a good emotion on the battlefield. Accept what was and move on.

Olga Marie was already dead.

Impossible. Her body may have been destroyed but if that was the case, who was the one that had been giving orders to Chaldea? Who had been trying to persuade him that his Saber was the one responsible for the Singularity?

No, Olga Animusphere was alive. She was breathing, speaking, moving, thinking, and living.

Therefore, she must be alive. In at least one sense of the word.

And she was about to die.

She was calling for help.

 _That_ was what was important. Everything else that interfered with saving Olga Marie Animusphere must be cast aside for now.

So Shirou cast aside all of his emotions in order to let his mind work unimpeded and furiously.

Options, options, options. He needed options.

He couldn't let Marie Olga Animusphere hit CHALDEAS. That sounded like it killed anyone who tried. Infinite living death sounded like it was something that Shirou wouldn't wish on, well, even Gilgamesh and Kirei really.

What tools did Shirou have?

He had weapons. He had some shields and armor too.

None would stop Olga from hitting Chaldeas.

Rule Breaker?

Shirou didn't know what the anti-thaumatology Noble Phantasm would do if it hit CHALDEAS.

It would almost certainly kill Shirou for getting that close. But more importantly, would it erase CHALDEAS?

Shirou didn't know. It was one of Chaldea's greatest works. A model of the earth by means of Gaia itself, so if there was anything mystical whose existence would overpower the C rank Noble Phantasm, CHALDEAS would be it.

So best leave that option as a last resort. If he tried it and it failed, he wouldn't have any alternatives left.

If it worked, then Animusphere was saved. Not that Shirou would ever know as he probably would be touching CHALDEAS and would either spend the next eternity dying or caught in the release of a massive amount of magical energy, which would probably be just as lethal if in a less painful and eternal fashion.

In other words, too low of a probability to succeed at saving Olga. Likely to kill her as well.

What if Rule Breaker was used on Olga?

Olga's current body was made of Spiritrons, acting as her body until the Rayshift was over. It was created out of Spiritrons by magecraft in a process not unlike that of making a familiar.

But Rule Breaker returned any life form created out of magic to a state prior to its creation.

Shirou guessed that if these artificial Spiritron familiar bodies were hit with Rule Breaker, the body would be destroyed.

Maybe the spirit would be sent back to Olga's original body, but…

Olga's body was gone. Shirou had no clue where or even if it was in condition to take her spirit back.

Lacking a good way to use Rule Breaker, Shirou's most potent anti-magecraft weapon, Shirou was forced to conclude that it was unacceptable except for a last resort.

Could anything immobilize Animusphere? Keep her from hitting CHALDEAS?

Shirou had a Black Key that could work but they required a distinct shadow.

And the CHALDEAS's chamber had too many bright lights on top of thousands of glowing segments, not to mention CHALDEAS itself. The shadow of a floating woman 10 meters up in the air would be so indistinct that the Black Key wouldn't be able to bind her even if he turned off 90% of all the lights.

Shirou raced through his other weapons and tactics but found nothing.

No other options to save Animusphere here.

So, if Shirou couldn't mess with things on this side of the portal-

-he'd just have to mess with the magus invoking the Mystery that was propelling Olga to CHALDEAS.

Given an option that might work, Shirou focused on what he could do to Lev Lainur.

First, most magi lost control of their Mystery if they were attacked or killed, the flow of prana cutting off.

Shirou quickly rejected the idea of going through the portal to fight Lev in melee. It would take too long to get to the portal and then fight in melee with Lev. By the time he arrived at Lev's location, Olga would already be dead.

He had to go with ranged options.

He could project a bow and arrow, but Lev was acting like he was someone else. Like he was possessed or that someone or something else was in control of his body or had been pretending to be him.

And Shirou knew there had been a demon in Chaldea.

Demons, from what Shirou knew, didn't fall to normal weapons easily.

Shirou didn't have a good Mystic Code arrow to use that might be lethal or painful enough. One that could immobilize, yes, but that wasn't what he looking for.

Immobilizing Lev's body wouldn't stop the spell or save Olga.

Next option.

What other long ranged options did he have-

-ah. Those might work.

He hoped. He wasn't sure what things a demon could do but at the very least, this method should be able to hurt Lev or interrupt his line of sight.

Shirou reviewed his plan.

First obstacle. The window. It hadn't even shattered when the bombs went off so Shirou doubted that it would be easy to break.

Criteria made. Weapons browsed. Weapon selected. Probability of success? Good.

Shirou briefly considered analyzing the window to figure out what it was made of so he could craft a specific sword to cut through the material, but figured that it would take longer to analyze and produce a counter to the window than it would be to just project what he was planning to.

Could always analyze and forge a counter to cut through the glass-like substance as a back-up plan.

Second obstacle. Animusphere and the portal were high off the ground.

Strategy selected. Short bursts of mid-air movement available. Need to move fast though, so Reinforcement is recommended.

Third obstacle, interfering with the hostile.

Weapons selected.

Back-up plans already formed.

Fourth obstacle, getting Olga away from CHALDEAS.

If timed right, the only problem would be if he defaulted to his last resort of using Rule Breaker on CHALDEAS.

In that case, all he could do was hope that CHALDEAS became non-lethal before Olga hit it because every other option to stop her movement would have already failed.

Fifth obstacle, not dying from the fall.

Reinforcement is not ideal. Would not save Olga's life if she doesn't have her own reinforcement applied.

Application of Reinforcement onto her? Bad idea. Using a spell directly on another magus typically resulted in the magus rejecting it and it turning into a contest of power.

Which Shirou would lose against the scion of an ancient line of magi.

Alternative: Variation of mid-air strategy? Acceptable.

By the time Shirou crossed the last few steps and reached the end of the bottom floor in the control room, Shirou had a plan all mapped out and weapons selected and ready to be traced from his Reality Marble.

He had grown a lot from when he had been involved in the Fifth Grail War.

Why, he had a plan that didn't limit itself to only the desired end goal.

With a mutter of "Trace On," for each Noble Phantasm, Shirou, one by one, projected, stepped forward, and threw a copy of a sword, a nameless weak Noble Phantasm from Gilgamesh's treasury, as if he were throwing a javelin into the glass-like window separating the Control Room from CHALDEAS's room. He repeated it three times, each sword striking dead on, cracking the almost impervious window in a formation like a square, a sword stuck fast into every corner.

The other people were turning to face Shirou now, their senses detecting the surge of magical energy as the weak Noble Phantasms came into existence.

But shock and surprise were slowing them down. Kept them from reacting fast enough, whether to help or to interfere.

After the fourth and last sword, Shirou rapidly took four steps back to where he had started his projections. Once in place, Shirou crouched down, using half-forgotten memories from P.E. a decade ago to use the back of the stairs he was up against like a kickpad.

Shirou carefully exhaled everything in his lungs before drawing in a deep breath, watching the room through the glass carefully, ignoring whatever the magi in this room were doing and saying even as some of them started rising from their chairs.

With a concise "Trace On." Shirou reinforced his body before kicking off in a full sprint towards the recently cracked segment of window, ignoring the squawks as the magi reacted to his burst of speed.

At the ideal spot, Shirou jumped, breaking through the enchanted barrier in a shower of shards, arms crossed in front of his face to protect his eyes and ears.

But breaking through the glass had slowed him down, causing his arc to be inadequate to reach the director who had recently emerged from the hole between Singularity F and Chaldea.

So Shirou used a trick he had developed against one female Dead Apostle who had taunted him by using a broomstick to fly while raining curses and spells down on him.

He projected one of the Sverd i Fjell, the 10-meter-tall bronze monument swords in Norway, right under his feet, while his body sailed through the air.

While the sword monument was easy enough to copy and project, the trick to using them hadn't been as easy. In fact, the injury from landing wrong had done more damage to him than the Dead Apostle had over the entire fight.

Rin had laughed in his bandaged, nearly mummified face for an entire minute when she had found out that he had hurt himself worse in the fall than the flying Dead Apostle had.

And then Rin had gasped out 'Why didn't you just shoot her?', before falling to the ground in a second wave of laughter. She then ignored his protests that the Apostle was moving and reacting too fast to be shot in favor of laughing at him.

But the incident had taught Shirou something. He needed an option to move mid-air and the only one he had needed work. But if Shirou had any virtues, it was insistent practice.

He practiced after getting released from the hospital and Rin's sniggering care. He must have projected that sword over 200 times until he learned how to project the large sword in just the right position under his feet and to time the jump just right to maximize his ability to move mid-air.

Using that hard and painfully won experience (he was lucky that his nose hadn't been broken to the point that it couldn't be fixed anymore), Shirou kicked off the conjured sword, accelerating it to terminal velocity before dismissing it right before the large sword could hit the floor.

No sense in making a mess of things that he would have to clean up.

But here and now, those practice sessions and painful landings paid off.

Shirou's right arm caught Olga Marie around the waist as she approached CHALDEAS, crying for help all the way.

Unfortunately, all the collision did was yank his arm as he spun around Olga Marie, who still was held fast by Lev's Mystery in an implacable approach towards certain doom and a horrible way to die.

Shirou had expected that.

Mysteries tried to disregard physics. If it said to move at this speed towards something, it would move at that speed towards something, regardless of how much was pulled. Although energy usage would climb as the weight increased, the spell would still go on.

So Shirou projected one of the two swords he had prepared, ready to be traced from Unlimited Blade Works.

An exploding sword. Part of a Mystic code of an enchanted suit of armor set to detonate if sufficient damage was received.

It hadn't taken much work for Shirou to disassociate the sword from the armor so that it could be projected on its own.

If Shirou was lucky, the Mystery that Lev was using depended on the victim being in eyesight. And the explosion of fire and smoke that this sword would cause should interrupt the demon's vision. If not, then if the explosion sufficiently distracted him or even killed him, then the Mystery would fade.

And being in an explosion was slightly distracting. Shirou had been near enough to be intimately familiar with that tidbit.

As the Mystic Code dropped into his free hand, Shirou threw it with all the strength he had back through the portal to Lev.

The sword cut through the air like a silver bullet, a flash of light, as it left Chaldea.

And it landed in Fuyuki right on top of Lainur before exploding, sending a shockwave of sound through both the cavern of the Greater Grail and Chaldea's center as a ball of fire centered on Shirou's boss.

Who probably had been dismissed from being Shirou's boss after being reported dead. And who certainly would be fired after trying to kill Chaldea's director.

Sadly, as the fire faded, Lev was still standing there, looking annoyed like he had just been rudely given his dismissal notice.

But damage wise, his clothes didn't even have a scorch mark, a scratch, or even a hint of ash on them. As if the exploding weapon hadn't affected him at all.

"Shirou Emiya," Lev growled. "Nothing but a tool and a weapon. I even used mental interference magecraft to reinforce the order to die by the very bomb I gave you to plant in the power plant. Why are you fighting- "

 _Oh,_ Shirou realized as he started to tune out the remainder of Lev's words. _So that is why I didn't remember part of the previous week and how Fou moved so fast that day. I didn't black out, nor is the Phantasmal Beast that fast. I was hypnotized._

 _I was the bomber. The memories of doing it were simply covered up or erased, like an Enforcer hiding the secret of magecraft._

Which meant that his mind could have some commands in it to continue working for Lev in his evil endeavor. Shirou was compromised, unable to trust his mind or body, especially his memories.

But the words made sense. His memories had some gaps. The bomber had been quick and used only a few efficient motions similar to how Shirou would have done them. Lev was now an enemy of Chaldea and humanity. One of Shirou's missing memories had been in the middle of a conversation with Lev. And unnaturally, Shirou hadn't even been concerned about missing spans of time despite being awake during them. The facts simply aligned.

Shirou's body had been used to help murder the engineers of Chaldea.

Shirou's throat suddenly tasted of bile but Shirou pushed the sensation aside.

Rin had always said that he should improve his defenses against the more subtle uses of magecraft. He should have listened. Should have been more suspicious. Should have been better prepared.

However, he would have to take care of that later. Probably should also get rid of any remaining influences on his mind by someone else while he was at it. Before he devastated Chaldea again would be nice.

Most importantly, he had a person to save and a back-up plan to implement right now. He could worry about what he had done under another's control at a later date.

But just in case there was another order laid into his suppressed memories, Shirou was going to go all out in this back-up plan, leaving nothing for him to attack anyone else with. He couldn't hurt anyone if he had too little Od to fight after all.

So Shirou would pour as much energy as he could into his most powerful sword, the second sword he had prepared to trace.

 _Judging the concept of creation._

Selection. Judgment. The symbol of chivalry and kingly authority. Holy.

 _Hypothesizing the basic structure._

The structure was a sword, although etched and carved to shine in a royal court. It's physical strength and endurance compromised for the enhancement of its beauty. The red and blue jewels in particular made for nice touches on the completed sword.

This was a sword that was only fit to rest in the scabbard of a king.

 _Duplicating the composition material._

In spite of being a special alloy of steel, the sword was more magic wearing a dress of physical iron, carbon, and gold than enchanted steel. The hilt was ornate, taking the gold melted and forged to look stunning; the outermost layer of the hilt colored to better match the colors of its wielder.

 _Imitating the skill of its making._

Made by the Fae, its makers were both Earth's most skilled and oddest smiths.

 _Sympathizing with the experience of its growth._

Magic, genuine magic, a type only available to Gaia's fairies and not mortal magecraft, through processes Shirou still didn't fully understand, had been both woven and forged, but almost a form of actually growing into the completed work.

And after them, mortal smiths had taken the sword and adjusted it for a new wielder.

 _Reproducing the accumulated years._

The sword had waited patiently for an entire generation, judging and denying all who had come forth to prove their worth.

Until a certain someone had lain hands on the hilt.

 _Excelling every manufacturing process._

He wanted this sword to be perfect. To be worthy of being Saber's favored sword.

And just as he had thought all those many years ago when he had projected his first Noble Phantasm, this body was a Magic Circuit specialized for this purpose. To reproduce this special sword!

Caliburn. The Golden Sword of Compelled Victory.

Olga, amidst her tears and cries for help, squawked as she felt a Noble Phantasm form beside her. "What!"

"What?!" Roman yelled, his fellow staff also turning stunned for a second time in less than a minute. "How is that even possible!?"

Shirou could see Mash, inside the Singularity and holding back Ritsuka from running after Olga, take on a poleaxed look as her jaw dropped, eyes widened, and her grip went slack.

Not that Ritsuka took advantage of it to break free as he was too busy gawking at Lev who had just ignored a sword that turned into a fireball.

What could Ritsuka do against someone who had ignored a person-sized fireball?

But Shirou still ignored them all, focused only on Lev and himself, uniting them in a form of Zen, into a unity that only existed between target and archer.

Caliburn was his best chance of either killing or wounding Lev or the demon who was possessing his form.

And while the spellcaster's understanding of Fae magic and forging was decent, enough to make it cost a seventh less than the original amount of prana he had needed when he had first traced the Sword of Selection, the Noble Phantasm still needed a lot of power to be strong.

So Shirou maximized his prana output, pouring as much as his 27 circuits could handle into the sword. With this sword and his weak prana reserve, it would be best to just use one shot.

One shot that would count. One shot that could make a difference.

Taking a last good look at Lev, Shirou swung around to Olga's back, almost hugging her from behind in order to grip Caliburn with both hands as the beautiful sword was supposed to be used.

"Sword of Selection, grant me your power!" Shirou prayed. He was going all out in this and while his power would never compare with Arturia's, he wasn't going to skimp with anything that belonged to her. And here, that meant giving the full chant for this Noble Phantasm. "Cleave the wicked, Caliburn!"

Shirou brought the glowing sword's tip down. Straight at Lev Flauros.

Who certainly did not look happy to see it.

Either that or he just realized that Shirou had been ignoring his speech about how Shirou was a petty annoyance and a fool. Shirou was used to such speeches. After all, he had received so many of them.

* * *

Olga was wide-eyed as she saw the absolutely gorgeous blue, white, and gold sword fire a beam of golden light back through the portal she had been thrown through.

She was close enough for her to see the strange characters scratched onto the sword that resembled runes but didn't match a single rune of the several runic languages she knew.

She was close enough to recognize the feeling and pressure of a Noble Phantasm like Saber's Excalibur, Caster's Wicker man, and Mash's Lord Chaldeas.

She was close enough to Shirou Emiya- whose arms were still encircled around her waist! When was he going to let go! - to feel the torrent of magical power flowing through him and into the sword.

Although it felt more like a stream of sharp but molten metal than any of the other elements she had felt over her years of learning and using magecraft.

The man must have a rare element. Uncommon, but as a group, rare elements were slightly more common than an Average One despite any individual rare element being much harder to find.

But most amazing to her, was the fact that she was close enough to Shirou Emiya to feel if he was a Heroic Spirit.

He wasn't.

He was just a technician with a Noble Phantasm.

But most of all, she was close enough for the brief burst of light blasting from less than 20 centimeters from her face to blind her.

She couldn't help the cry of pain as the light pressed into her eyes, causing her to automatically snap her eyelids shut in an effort to keep the pain out.

But she felt something.

She felt the pressure around her body, forcing her to move at a set velocity, overpowering both gravity and air drag, which pressure was also forcefully holding her in one position and ignoring her struggles to move or even tremble, but leaving her mouth and lungs free to scream her last words, abate.

Or to put it more simply, she regained control and started to fall.

Olga snapped her eyes open, still unable to see anything but the afterimage of that beam of light, as she realized that no longer was she headed to an eternal death by merging with CHALDEAS.

Instead she was going to die from a broken neck by falling 15 meters to the ground!

Oh wait, she was already dead. That was the expected result of having her body destroyed.

But she was still going to die a second time by falling to her death!

She screamed, her lungs not composed of flesh and blood but instead spiritrons, forcing out the sound.

But the unbelievable cad behind her, was still holding onto her waist! When was he going to let go! His lineage didn't qualify him to touch her! Especially around t-t-there!

Only for the situation to turn worse.

His arms ran up her sides!

His hands ran over her breasts!

He-! He just-! He was-!

CAD! BEAST! BLEEDER! BLIGHTER! PERVERT! ROTTER! SCOUNDREL! VERMIN! DEVIANT! DEPRAVED!CHURL! DEGENERATE! DEBAUCHEE! PERVERTIEREN! идиот! извращенец ! ползать!

Olga would've slapped him if his arms weren't under her armpits and keeping her from twisting around to give him his justly deserved punishment!

If Olga had been paying more attention to the surroundings rather than the fact that Emiya had just got copped a feel, she would have noticed that Shirou had vertically bounced twice. Both times kicking off of another large sword that he projected just under his feet mid-air, bleeding off momentum before landing both of them safely on the ground.

The arms running up her torso had been because of Emiya stopping at each sword while she had kept on falling until his arms caught her and stopped her fall.

She also would have noticed, after the golden light had poured through the rift in time and space, that the portal had snapped shut.

Instead, she was screaming as many words as she knew in as many languages as she knew over what Shirou had just unwittingly done to her.

And then Shirou let go of her.

And with her feet on the ground, the first thing she did was turn around and slap him in the face with her full strength.

The guy must have been made of steel, because his head barely turned.

And her hand hurt. A lot.

So she slapped him with her other hand.

She might not have been in a rational mind at the moment.

* * *

Meanwhile, well for a given term of 'meanwhile' as meanwhile doesn't cover acting simultaneously in two different periods of time, Fuyuki was almost quiet.

The 'almost' coming from the rumbling of rocks above as the cavern decided that it had enough photon beams, giant burning wooden men, holes in time and space, and that they really shouldn't all be happening underground.

But despite the cracking and groaning of rocks above, nothing was falling.

Yet.

"My liege," Mash muttered without even realizing what she was saying as she sank down to her knees.

To Ritsuka, who was standing to the other side of her after she had pulled him back from chasing after Olga, it looked like Mash was completely unaware of what she was doing.

Not that Ritsuka was any different.

He was standing there, jaw agape as he had watched the older Japanese man collide mid-air with the director, swing around her, throw a sword at the traitor that had exploded into a fireball before pulling out of thin air, the most beautiful sword Ritsuka had ever seen. Then he used it to fire off an _energy beam,_ of all things, at Mr. Lainur!

When he had signed his signature on the contract from Chaldea's recruiter, he hadn't expected to walk into a Shonen anime!

Now he just stood there, slack-jawed as he stared at the portal which had just snapped shut.

"ARGH!" came the sudden sound from where the bright beam of light had impacted.

Apparently, Lev Lainur Flauros had survived the blast.

But as Ritsuka's eyes automatically turned to look, it looked like the man shouldn't have.

Mr. Lainur's face was peeling like it had slept in a furnace overnight, a hole through his chest and his clothes while his hat was nowhere to be seen. All over his body, sullen red burn marks showed through, including where his long hair had once been.

All in all, he looked more like a burned corpse used for a horror film than a living person.

And yet, he could still talk.

"YOU INSOLENT CURS!" the moving corpse roared as it somehow took a step forward.

HOW? HOW?

It didn't even have an intact spine anymore! Ritsuka could see the back of the cave through the hole where the rest of the torso should be! How could it possibly walk?

"I DIDN'T KILL ALL OF YOU OUTRIGHT AS I SHOULD HAVE!" the dead man yelled but he didn't even have the lungs to do that! "I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT MINION OF THE COUNTER FORCE RATHER THAN USE HIM!"

Ritsuka stepped back, frightened.

This was worse than a horror movie. Less terrifying background music but more feeling of 'oh my gosh, we're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to die!'

What could he do about it?! The former man had just survived a huge laser beam! Was there anything that Ritsuka could do when compared to an almost chest sized laser beam?! Would leading the dead man to Berserker work? Set the terrifying, overpowered giant against the man who would not die?

Ritsuka looked up at the man who had betrayed Chaldea and wondered what he could do.

Lev Flauros looked down on the two humans beneath him and felt rage. Tumultuous, boiling rage.

Mash was terrified but she drew courage and determination to defend Ritsuka from one she had once called ally.

And using those two resources, the girl picked up her shield and dashed.

Halting a few steps ahead of Ritsuka, she gritted her teeth and raised her shield.

Then slammed it down hard to the ground in a gesture of defiance. A declaration that humanity was not dead yet.

And out of all things that happened, the Tyrant of Knights blasting her Noble Phantasm willy-nilly, a giant Wicker-Man walking around until it was set on fire, and a technician shooting a beam attack from the future, the cave decided that it was Mash slamming her shield down onto the ground that was the feather on the camel's back.

All three people in the cavern paused their stand-off to look up as they heard and saw the mountain start to fall upon their heads.

"It looks like this Singularity has had enough," Lev Lainur Flauros said, his voice full of malice and irritation, yet inhumanely calm.

Not to worry though, Ritsuka and Mash were feeling enough fear to cover his quota too.

"Mash, can you use your Noble Phantasm to protect us?" Ritsuka asked in a whisper as he watched the rocks fall.

"Yes, but no," she whispered back. "I can keep the rocks from crushing us, but I can't get us air to breathe after being buried."

"Cursed Saber and her Master," Lev growled, his voice taking on frustration and annoyance. "Even after your demises, you're still causing me trouble here. If she had just obeyed and taken the Holy Grail-!"

Lev stopped as a rock fell where he had been standing.

"Farewell, Romani, Mash and Candidate #48. I have other things to do, more important than enjoying bringing your demise. Enjoy your swallowing by the dimensional warp-!"

The man's speech ended as another rock nearly fell on him again, forcing him to disappear in a burst of light before it hit.

Meanwhile, Mash had just pulled Ritsuka out of the way of a falling boulder the size of a car. Hearing the groan and rumble of the roof as the cracks became wider and the boulders larger, Ritsuka made a snap decision.

"Do it, Mash!" Ritsuka yelled as he watched another boulder, larger than the first, fall towards them.

"Lord-" Mash began.

But before she could even finish her word, the ground beneath their feet split in twain.

Ritsuka stumbled, his body falling away from the girl that called him her 'Senpai' even as she did likewise.

Struck by fear, he reached out his hand towards her.

"Mash!" he cried.

"Senpai!" Ritsuka could see one of her hands leave her shield to grab at him.

The two hands reached, and missed before trying again. Both Ritsuka and Mash strained and twisted, trying to catch hold. And this time, they caught and clung to each other, finding comfort and stability in a collapsing world by the grip of another's hand.

With a yank of her arm, Ritsuka felt Mash pull him to her, her armored body catching his involuntary mid-air full body tackle.

He clung to her, fear of the falling ceiling overcoming his sense of propriety.

It helped that the closer they were to each other, the better her large shield could cover them.

* * *

In Mash's mind, the thought that _'at least I wouldn't die alone'_ wouldn't leave. A guilty pleasure and happiness right now. Even so, she knew that she should wish that Ritsuka wouldn't die with her.

Actually, she found in a moment of introspection as she felt smaller pebbles and rocks bounce off her shield. She did wish that Ritsuka wouldn't die with her. The problem was she was just too happy that she wouldn't die alone to feel it strongly enough-

The sensation of a yank from inside her belly button grabbed her attention as she felt time and space both stretch and compress simultaneously.

A Rayshift!

Mash's eyes widened in relief and her smile broke free as colors and lights streamed past her in the experience unique to this form of time travel.

They were saved! She and her Master wouldn't die!

Then in a jerk that Mash didn't remember, she was lying on the ground on top of a cold, flat surface in the present time of Chaldea.

Mash just blinked at the wall in her prone position, stomach on the ground her head on top of her arm.

Senpai.

Her eyes snapped fully open and she twisted her head around, worried that her Master might not be here.

Only to sigh in relief at finding him curled up right next to her, his body on its side like he had fallen over from a sitting position.

Mash got to her feet, shaking and trembling.

She must be tired from all fighting she had done. She had poured so much of her magical reserves into combat and her Noble Phantasm that her body was shaking.

She tottered the step over between her and him and collapsed to her knees in an almost seiza position.

One hand drifted over him, hesitating as she wondered where she should check.

Was he alive? Was he dead?

Finally falling to his throat and the vein there, Mash waited, her own heart beat pounding in her ears.

And she felt a slow heartbeat pump in his neck.

Mash bonelessly relaxed, her last worry assuaged.

Senpai was alright.

She looked down at him, eyes studying his sleeping face.

It was cute. And it was fascinating how he slept. But it was interesting how whenever she found her Senpai, he was always sleeping on the hard, cold floor.

And yet, he was the only one Mash had ever seen sleep. Just like earlier today when Fou found him on the ground in the upper floors after his first Spiritron Dive. Or just after the Rayshift when a stray pair of skeletons attacked while he was unaware of the world around him.

His eyes were closed, hiding his emotions and thoughts. And his face was relaxed and lightly breathing, showing a vulnerability that was different from his confusion that had lasted throughout the Singularity.

It wasn't different from how he slept before, an almost textbook sleep pattern. But now that she knew him better, it was amazing just how much he looked different without his animating spirit and resolute yet patient eyes displaying his emotions for everyone to see.

Ritsuka breathed in, his chest slightly expanding. Then a pause and he breathed out.

It was novel and interesting, Mash discovered. That a person could look so different asleep than how they were awake. Who knew that being bereft of an animating intelligence could change a person's appearance so much?

After watching a few iterations of breathing, Mash looked up and around the room, her post-Rayshift sleepiness causing her to yawn widely.

Senpai must have been overtaken by it as well, Mash sleepily concluded. He started the Rayshift tired from the new strain of his first Spiritron Dive and the Singularity had been much more exciting, yet draining than the simulations she had been through. Only natural for him to be tired.

Mash yawned again, this one lasting a while.

She didn't think that they were going to do a mission debrief. Olga had just died so no one would be there to do it.

Maybe she could go sleep for a bit. Her room was a fair distance away, but she doubted that they would be holding a debrief any time soon.

She could go take a brief nap, right?

Mash blinked languidly. That sounded good. Olga was probably dead so she couldn't hold a debrief. Which meant that she didn't need to be down here.

Mash drowsily clambered to her feet and reflexively glanced down at Ritsuka, who was still fast asleep on the hard ground.

Actually, Senpai was Japanese and he slept on straw mats, the Japanese carpet, or so he had said after she had found him when asleep on the upper levels. And if he was sleeping here, the ground must be more comfortable than she had thought.

She had thought it much too hard to sleep on. But if Ritsuka was doing it, then it must be better than she had thought.

Maybe she could try sleeping on a hard floor, just to check it out? After all, if Senpai was sleeping so peacefully, it couldn't be all that bad.

And it was far closer than her bed, Mash thought as she yawned and did a little stretch.

Mind made up, Mash laid down about three feet opposite her Master, one arm becoming her pillow. She looked one last time at his sleeping face.

Then she closed her eyes and was fast asleep.

* * *

Roman was up and out of his seat, running for the door the second after Shirou had managed to force Flauros to close the portal.

The door opened at his approach, which was fortunate because Roman had no intention to stop.

Nearly running into the wall as he turned, the doctor raced to the staging area.

He didn't know what he could do to help, but he was a doctor. He had given his oath to help and heal people.

Even if Chaldea didn't have a spare puppet body. Even if they didn't have anything to help her. Not even the Coffins could help as Olga didn't have a body to put into them.

Roman's mind raced almost as fast as his feet.

He couldn't use drugs, he couldn't use medicine, he couldn't use acupuncture, if he had a magus on hand, then he could maybe use magecraft but the kind of magecraft required was almost on the level of the Third Magic.

But they didn't have any Einzbern here. Without one of their homunculi, they couldn't accomplish a feat nearly on the verge of True Magic.

Roman searched through his mind and memories, memorized facts and theories, knowledge and tools, for anything.

Unfortunately, anything that could help required resources that he simply didn't have at the moment. Chaldea's resources were vast and widespread, but they couldn't store everything. Several rare artifacts weren't released from the Clock Tower or Atlas or the Wandering Sea or even the Church. And private collectors or high-ranking magi weren't inclined to give up their treasures just because an organization with bottomless pockets wanted a sample.

And then there were people like the Einzbern whose prices for their goods were simply too high for Chaldea to view as worth the expense or effort.

But right now, Roman almost wished that they had paid the Einzbern their ridiculous price, whatever it was, for one of their premium homunculi. Wishcraft, the Einzbern ability to manifest a magical effect without knowledge of the mystery or meeting all the previous requirements by instead substituting a large amount of magical energy, would go a long way right now.

But no, no Wishcraft. Roman would have to do with what he had.

And given that he was going to be working on a Spiritron body, that meant that he had to use Atlas's technology.

Roman wondered if any of the stuff he had in his pockets could help. Nothing there could really keep a spiritual body from dying. Freeze one, yes. Stop a biological body from continuing to die, definitely. Heal wounds, he had at least five different devices.

But stop the death of one that had no physical body and stabilize it? No. The closest tool that would meet that parameter was a few floors away, near the Summoning Experiment Chamber in fact. And its back-up was in storage even further away.

But by the time he could get it down here, Olga would already be long gone.

Roman knew then that what he was doing was pointless. He couldn't save Olga. He didn't have any of the specialized equipment to capture her soul or contain it. He could repair it, but what could stop death from claiming its due?

Roman's mind popped up with several things that could, but none of them would work now or on Olga in her current state.

Roman took his frantic worry and channeled it into his legs.

 _The only thing I can do now_ , he thought as he turned the corner to the main chamber of Chaldea, his lungs burning from the exertion of the sprint, _is to help her pass on as peacefully as possible._

* * *

Shirou didn't know what to do.

Animusphere had been ranting at him for several minutes now. About how he didn't meet the criteria for what he had done to her. Sounded like she was one of the people who would complain about their own rescue if it didn't meet their liking.

But that was acceptable. She had been saved and her angry words helped keep his mind off of things.

Things like Arturia and her Alter's demise. Or how he had been the bomber. Or that Lev, his boss had become possessed and betrayed them all and how he, Shirou, hadn't noticed. How his neglect of his defenses against mental interference had led him to kill his coworkers.

Unfortunately, Olga Marie Animusphere was on her third round of repeating herself.

"-the offense of w-where you TOUCHED ME should have you fired! No hanged, then fired!" She ranted. "And before you think that you are getting off _lightly_ " the word was hissed in offended dignity, anger, and with a fire in her eyes. "I mean it literally!"

Yep, she definitely was one of the types that complained about him not riding in on a white horse.

Meh, Shirou didn't do it for her gratitude. He did it because she needed help. If she chose to give gratitude, it was just polite of her. If she didn't, then did it change anything?

Well, Shirou's opinion of her would change to her being more like Rin but that wouldn't change his actions.

Shirou would never regret saving anyone.

"Terminating Rayshift Unsummon Program," An impartial female voice came over the facility intercom. "Spiritron Conversion Reversed. Rayshift Returning in 3, 2, 1. First Order concluding operation."

"Is there anything you would like to say in your defense!" Olga yelled into Shirou's face.

Shirou thought for a moment.

"Just glad to see you alive, Director," Shirou said simply. He was out of prana and would barely be able to squeeze out a tracing of a normal sword right now. He didn't have drops left to spare after using those drops to bring Olga to the ground. But Olga was alive now so that was good and outweighed everything else.

"Of course, you are!" Olga flipped her hands up and stormed away a few steps before turning around to point at him. "But don't think that will expressing sentiments of-"

She stopped suddenly. Shirou's eyes refocused onto the white-haired woman.

Her feet were glowing.

And as Shirou watched, the edges of her shoes started to vanish into that glow.

"What is happening?" Olga yelled staring down at her feet. Her forehead started to sweat, beads of condensation forming. "Lev, what- "

She broke off, obviously disconcerted by the betrayal of her closest advisor.

"What do I do? What do I do? What is happening?" She panicked, trying to back away from her own feet, and falling to ground. She stared in fascinated horror at the disappearing edges of her shoes which was now working its way into her toes.

Shirou was frozen. He had never seen anyone just start vanishing like this before. He had seen Servants die but they just started glowing all over before shimmering out of existence. They didn't die like this, starting to disappear at the farthest reaches and then working their way in.

"My feet! What is happening to my feet?" the woman panicked before reaching out one hand towards them.

But the fingertips were glowing the same white glow as her feet now.

"No!" She screamed, backing away but there was no point. She was disappearing. She couldn't escape herself "No, I can't die yet! I can't die!"

"Someone help me!" She yelled, suddenly looking up at Shirou. He could see her widened eyes. She was afraid. She was dying.

But Shirou didn't know what to do. There was no one he could defeat to save her. He didn't know of any medical procedure to save her. He didn't even know that a human could vanish like this.

If she was a Servant, he could try to make a contract with her but she wasn't. She was human, just like him.

"I, I…" Shirou stammered eyes flicking about.

There had to be something! There had to be something he could do.

But there was nothing. The room was bare, CHALDEAS floating in its apparatus, its red glow shining and declaring that something was still wrong.

Shirou could already guess at that. He didn't need a giant red glowing ball to tell him.

"Director!" Roman yelled, puffing and panting as he staggered into the large room. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay, Roman?" She screamed at him. "I'm disappearing! I'm disappearing!"

"Already?" The doctor said in surprise. "Listen, if you want to say or do anything, start reinforcing your own existence! It will help you last longer if you use your own prana."

Olga concentrated, a crease in her manicured eyebrows brow forming.

But it was working, Shirou saw with hope. Her feet were reforming from out of the white glow.

But she was still glowing.

The doctor hurried over to Olga, his breathing labored.

He must have run all the way down here.

Shirou rushed over as well.

"Anything I can do to help?" Shirou asked immediately, taking a knee next to the doctor.

"Do you have anything that can host a soul?" Roman asked immediately. "A puppet body, or a doll or anything? Preferably on you?"

Shirou blinked. That sounded suspiciously like what Illya had tried to do to him when she had kidnapped him back in the 5th Grail War.

"No," Shirou said. He didn't have anything like that.

The doctor cursed. "Then, no you can't. The best we can do is try and catch her soul but the Rayshift Experiment Chamber is too far from here for us to get the tools from there to here."

"What if we brought her there while having someone bring it here and we met in the middle?" Shirou asked, getting ready to run.

"Still too long," the long-haired man said as he pulled out some strange devices from his large coat pockets. "Even if she manages to keep this up long enough, by the time we made it half-way, her existence will have been rejected too much."

"Rejection?" Olga asked before her eyes widened. "You mean Gaia is rejecting me?"

"Yes," Roman said distractedly, fiddling around with one smooth and black device before laying it on Olga's stomach. "Hold that there, it should make you more comfortable. The Rayshift just concluded so the Spiritron familiar is breaking apart without the Evocation-Invocation Engine running. The main reason you haven't disappeared yet is because CHALDEAS provides a covering field around Chaldea so Gaia isn't quite so quick to reject you. But just because it is much slower to recognize or reject unnatural things doesn't mean that it won't. It just takes longer. If we could establish a field to reject Gaia's influence then we could possibly keep you alive for a time. But the workshops won't let a foreign spirit entity enter in and Da Vinci is in the middle of a delicate repair. Can't disturb her without setting off a potentially catastrophic reaction. Besides, the Bounded Fields layered throughout Chaldea wouldn't let her teleport here even if we could contact her."

Shirou's mind raced.

Gaia's rejection was what was killing Olga. Shirou didn't know of anything that could stop it.

Except…

"Contact her!" Olga ordered, her voice holding a bit of panic.

"I tried," Roman shook his head. "Her communicator is off. And she works better on her own without people to distract her and vice versa so I don't have anyone near her that I could tell to go get her."

"Then what are you going to do?" Olga asked desperately.

"What I can," Roman said grimly as he pressed buttons on another device. "I'm going to do my best to make sure that you die as peacefully as possible."

"No," Olga gasped, her body flaring in white light as her control slipped. "There must be something!"

"What if you had a space separate from Gaia?" Shirou asked.

He knew what he was asking. He knew that he was risking his life and freedom as well as his home and his friends.

But if it was to save someone, then he would do it with no regrets.

Roman paused, before turning around to face Shirou.

"You have such a spell?" Roman asked, a light of hope flickering to life in his eyes.

"Yes," Shirou said simply. "I have a Reality Marble."

Olga gasped at the admittance and her extremities and hair flared again, the white light indicating that she had momentarily stopped reinforcing her existence.

Roman himself gaped for a second before asking. "Hostile to life, amiable, or foreign?"

"Um," Shirou thought back to his Reality Marble.

From what he felt of it, it wasn't exactly friendly to life as nothing could grow there. But it felt like it could allow life to exist there. As long as you didn't need water or food but there was air and sky and it wouldn't kill you unless you did something to hurt yourself.

"Allows life but not able to sustain it," Shirou decided.

"Does it have breathable air?" Roman asked, his hands getting busy pulling a disk-like black, grey, white and blue object out of a pocket. "Is it dangerous to an unusual degree? Like surprises, strange relationship to rules of reality like the flow of time, bottomless ledges that you could fall from, innocuous things becoming dangerous or requiring certain rituals to access parts?"

"Yes. Not unless she does something stupid or dangerous like pick up the wrong weapon. No to all of those," Shirou answered in order.

Shirou had seen cursed weapons before, blades doomed to take their wielder's life. They were still swords so he had copied them without being able to stop himself. He didn't plan on using one but he couldn't get rid of them.

As long as Olga didn't pick up one of those weapons, she should be fine.

"Then just give me a minute and keep on reinforcing yourself. It'll take some time to adjust these tools," the doctor said to Olga as his gaze dropped to the disk in his hands. "They are meant to pull people through textures of Gaia or layers of reality in case a Rayshift or experiment went wrong and someone ended up out of phase with the human layer. It'll take some time to repurpose it to shove you into an internal texture."

The doctor fell silent as he concentrated on what he was doing.

"You can't be serious!" Olga finally found her voice. Fortunately, she still was reinforcing herself. "You can't _just have_ a Reality Marble! They are a step away from True Magic. No way a young clan of magi could make such a thing!"

"I've been working on developing it for a decade now," Shirou admitted. "It started sometime around the Fifth Grail War and I've been working on refining it since me and – I discovered it."

He cut himself off from mentioning Rin's participation. He probably shouldn't tell Animusphere, one of the Lords of the Clock Tower, that one of their most talented and up and coming members had been participating and conducting illegal research into Reality Marbles.

Rin would scream and choke him until he was blue in the face if he did.

Though, come to think of it, she would probably try to see how many Gandr she could shoot at him as punishment for even revealing that he had a Reality Marble.

Eh, he'll take care of it when the time comes. He couldn't have just sat by and let a woman die.

Though he didn't expect Rin or Saber to forgive him even if he told them that.

Roman was busy fiddling with the inside of the foreign device he had in his hand. Shirou had never seen anything like it.

"Still," Olga was shaking her head in disbelief and rejection. "What you are saying is impossible. The number of successful human attempts at Reality Marbles are ridiculously low. You shouldn't be able to complete one even in a decade of work."

Shirou just shrugged. He knew the odds as well. Rin had looked them up and told him.

Still amazed him sometimes that he had surpassed them. He wasn't that good of a magus.

Actually, he was pretty bad at being a magus. Both in terms of learning magecraft and acting like a magus.

Maybe that had been a factor in how he managed to make part of his soul into a Reality Marble? It would be ironic if having the attitude and beliefs of a magus precluded one from achieving one of their greatest achievements.

"Also, how is this even possible?" Olga turned to Roman. "How could a Reality Marble inside a person even be able to contain another person?"

"It is a Mystery," Roman said almost flippantly with his mind focused on the tool in his hands. "And the proximity to True Magic means that with a little luck, we can do things that humanity can't understand."

It was hard to argue against that. It didn't need to make sense, it just needed to work. Shirou didn't care how it worked, only that it saved Olga.

* * *

"Okay," Roman sighed as he finished jury rigging the device. The Texture Shifter had one objective and that was to reunite a soul with the human plane of Gaia. It was meant for use when a Rayshift went astray and left a soul somewhere other than its body. But if Roman's slap-dash modifications worked, it should instead push a soul somewhere else.

It was a good thing he knew so much about modern magecraft, Reality Marbles, and ancient magic despite not having magic circuits. If he didn't know what he knew…

Well, that would be a different problem. For now, he had an experimental operation to do.

"What we're going to do is try to shift Olga's existence from this plane of reality into your Reality Marble," Roman said to his assistant and patient. Shirou's brown eyes and Olga's orange eyes met his, determination and resolution in the first while fear dominated the second. "Again, I'm not sure how this will work. No one has ever done anything like this, at least not that I know of. So, if you die mid-way, I apologize. Fortunately, you are already dying so all that changes is how you die."

Olga did not look comforted.

"What do you need us to do?" Shirou asked.

Roman almost bit his lip.

"For you, nothing. I just need you to do not open your circuits and reject her as she travels into your Reality Marble. If you try to resist the intrusion, this will get much more difficult. So, hold back and do nothing," Roman told the technician who nodded in acceptance before taking a more comfortable seating position on the ground.

Then Roman turned to Olga who was bravely holding back her fear. "For you, director, I need you to make your reinforcement as steady as possible. If it spikes high, you might not reach the Reality Marble. If it spikes low, you might skip past it. Find a stable degree that you can maintain under stress and keep it there. As long as it is stable, the device might be able to compensate."

"I don't like your conditional qualifiers, Romani," Olga growled. "Am I going to live or not?"

"I don't know," Roman ran a hand through his hair nervously. "As I said, I am going off guesswork here. I don't know if Shirou's Reality Marble will reject you at the boundaries or not. I don't know if the device will push you out of this texture of Gaia or where you will land. I don't know if the device will revert to its original purpose and pull you back to here mid-way through. I don't even know if it will kill Shirou or not. I think it might work but I don't even know enough to tell you if this has even a one percent chance of success or survival."

Olga's mouth trembled.

"Let's do it," Shirou said determinedly. "One percent or not, that is still better than someone dying."

"All right," Roman exhaled before shaking himself. Now was not the time for second thoughts. Not with a centimeter of Olga's hair having already vanished.

"Okay, hold this, both of you," Roman said as he put the device onto Olga's forehead before shifting her so that her head was on Shirou's lap. "Lay your hands on the disk."

Olga was still quietly trembling, her desire to live conflicting with her sense of propriety. But she did as instructed, raising both of her hands to land on the disk while Shirou brought his physical hands to do the same.

The disk was barely large enough for all of their hands to fit on, Roman's hand hovering over the start button included.

"Starting procedure," Roman said, a drop of sweat beading down his face.

Roman hit the button and withdrew his hand.

He didn't have the ability to sense magic or magecraft. He didn't know how it was going. But it was his only option.

His only other one was to give up and watch Olga die. And as Marisbury's friend and as a doctor who had sworn the Hippocratic Oath, he couldn't do that so easily.

In this battle against death, he had only one option left. And it was a gamble.

But if the patients agreed to it, then his ethics were fulfilled and he could operate.

For a long second, nothing happened.

And then Olga started to vanish, her entire body breaking apart into streams of white that flowed into Shirou's stomach.

Roman swallowed as the white light started to prismatically bend, casting out a rainbow of color amidst the white light of Olga's soul.

Was it working?

This was harder than medical school, Roman felt. At least there he could look up previous medical treatments, read textbooks, watch videos and documentaries about the human body and talk to experienced professionals. Here, he was going off of guesswork, abstract theory, and a prayer. Which reminded him…

Roman started praying, mumbled words to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, falling out of his mouth.

If you were to later ask Roman what he was praying for at that moment, he couldn't tell you. He just remembered the feeling of fear, panic and worry dominating his emotional landscape. Had he done his best? Was there something else he could have done?

Was this the start of the death of humanity?

Olga's transformed body flew into Shirou's stomach, the streams of white vanishing.

Roman noted that Shirou had his jaw set and clenched. In addition, his body language was extremely tense but despite his obvious efforts, the man was minutely trembling.

Roman watched as the last wisp of multi-colored white was absorbed into Shirou's body, the Texture Shifter floating above his lap where Olga's body had been.

A pause.

The disk fell to Shirou's lap. Shirou didn't die.

"Phew," Roman exhaled, relaxing his entire body.

"AAARGGH!" Shirou yelled, face contorting in pain. "That hurt!"

"Really?" Roman asked, blinking and slightly worried. He didn't know if pain was a good thing or a bad thing. "Where did it hurt? And how bad was it?"

"It felt like I was giving birth in reverse!" Shirou grimaced, gasping a little.

"Uhhh," Roman said, blinking in a momentary confusion. "So, your hips and stomach? Is that where? Do your magic circuits feel bloated?"

Don't look at him like that! Roman hadn't delivered a baby before. It was rather rare in Chaldea for people to go for live births. As in, no one ever had during his entire time here.

"No, not quite. More of extreme pain everywhere," Shirou trailed off, collapsing and lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling. "I've obviously never given birth but it certainly felt like how it sounded that one time a baby decided to come out in the middle of a battle. That wasn't a fun part to be fighting at the front door while yelling instructions at the father and mother on the couch."

Roman was reminded that Shirou was one of the people here with actual combat experience. Possibly the only one remaining after Lev's sabotage.

"Well," Roman thought out loud. "The pain makes sense. I mean, you just took a person into yourself, no way that could be painless."

"I hadn't noticed," Shirou commented sarcastically. "I only saw and felt a person move through me. Who knew that it would be painless?"

"Sorry," Roman apologized, a nervous smile falling onto his lips. "I guess pain would have been a reaction I should have expected, huh?"

"It would have been nice to know beforehand," Shirou grumbled, still not moving. He was plainly exhausted from using the Noble Phantasm Caliburn against Lev.

"Well, no harm, no foul?" Roman said as he got to his feet, wincing. His knees and legs felt like they had been pricked with pins and needles. "All is forgiven?"

"Lots of pain," Shirou disagreed from his laid-out posture. "Certainly felt like harm."

Roman winced. Looking back on it, maybe he should have put some more thought into how the participants would feel.

Thinking of it, how would Olga have felt? If Shirou had compared it to giving birth in reverse…

"Oh, Olga is going to kill me," Roman muttered under his breath, dreading the reaction when Olga was let out of the Reality Marble into a puppet body.

"Dr. Roman," Tom said from the Command Center, his colored image popping out of Roman's communicator. "The 48th Master and Mash Kyrielight have successfully returned. Readings indicate that they are stable, distortion values minimal but they are rather low on Od reserves."

"Got it," Roman breathed in relief. The two were safely back. He hadn't been too sure of their safe return as Chaldea had never recalled a person from a Singularity before. Then again, Chaldea hadn't even found a Singularity before this one as far as Roman knew.

But if they could safely return from Singularities, then everything was alright.

Or was it?

"I'll check them out. Give them a check-up and all," Roman decided as he started looking around for where they had left the two remaining members of the Master teams. "Tom, finish the final procedures for me if you would. Oh, and tell Da Vinci to come here as soon as you can reach her. I'd like her to undo Lev's brainwashing on Shirou and check everyone over before anything bad can happen."

"Worse than what already happened?" Tom asked, raising an eyebrow, referring to the devastation among the geniuses that Olga had employed as part of her Chaldea.

"Yeah," Roman heavily replied as he found the pair, remembering the destruction that had littered this room. It didn't look it anymore, but for someone who remembered clearing the room and sliding 46 Masters into cryopreservation…

It was all too easy to remember.

"Understood," the physically large man said, nodding once, before the hologram shut off.

Roman started towards the collapsed bodies of Mash and Ritsuka until Shirou spoke.

"Doctor?" Shirou asked, his voice weary. "Did we save her?"

Roman hesitated.

Had they saved Olga? He honestly didn't know. Olga had disappeared and it certainly had been a different type of disappearing than when Gaia had started rejecting her.

But did she enter Shirou's Reality Marble or some plane of existence where Gaia wasn't rejecting her? Or was she even now being rejected and her spirit moving onto the afterlife?

Roman didn't know.

But if he had to guess-

"I think so," the Jew tentatively said before some instinct told him to look back.

The Japanese man was smiling. A big, bright, brilliant smile. As if his life's mission was complete and he had found it incredibly fulfilling.

Roman wondered why. Why was Shirou smiling so happily despite feeling intense amounts of pain earlier?

But that could be a matter for another day, Roman decided as he hurried over to check on the ones who had saved humanity and conquered Singularity F. Right now, he had to make sure that Mash was alright. That she hadn't lost her life or power when returning from the Singularity as a Demi-Servant.

He didn't think she had but his worry was gnawing at him to check and see for himself.

 _There is just one thing that bothers me,_ Roman thought as started fussing over the unmoving girl. _Why did that Saber mention the Grand Order and deliver it to those three as a charge? We were operating under the First Order, not the Grand Order. And why those three?_

 _Mash, Shirou and Ritsuka. The only commonality is that all three of them have experience as a Master and contributed to her defeat._

 _And are we truly done? Humanity still can't be found, not past 2019 or in the past either. Lev is still out there too._ Roman thought as he glanced up at the glowing red globe in the center of the room. He was counting Mash's heartbeats, relieved that he could still feel them, that Mash was alive. _And we haven't been contacted by anyone else despite being out of contact for several days now. Someone, the UN, the Mages Association, somebody should have sent someone to check up on us. If they haven't or can't…_

 _Then something is wrong. And we'll have to fix it._

 _Or is it too late already?_

* * *

Olga Marie looked around at Shirou Emiya's Reality Marble.

A graveyard of swords in a brown wasteland with about two dozen gigantic gears in the sky.

Standing up from where she had emerged into this internal texture, Olga could see further.

And all she saw was an almost infinite collection of swords, lances, bows, arrows, and dozens of other types of weapons. Also, a suit of armor lay over there and there might be more hidden among the rest.

And in the horizon, is that an oasis of green and blue?

She shakes her head. The heat must be getting to her. The entire Reality Marble is one gigantic wasteland with a dim sun and clouds overhead. There is a hill with few beautiful swords, weapons and a suit of blue and steel armor as well as a black full body suit of armor on the opposite side of the hill from the blue armor. At the peak was two swords, one a familiar black and red blade and the other a beautiful golden and blue Noble Phantasm that Shirou had used to stop Lev. Given that it is the only hill in this Reality Marble, both the hill and the stuff on it must have some special meaning.

Unlike Earth, a Reality Marble does not need to be diverse in topography. In fact, it was more likely for it be uniform if she remembered the Clock Tower's theoretical primer on Reality Marbles correctly. The result of a human mind and soul being infinitely inferior to Gaia's.

There is no way that there could be distant greenery. The heat must be playing mirages on her.

Speaking of the heat, she wishes that she hadn't worn her coat. It's too hot here!

But she is Olga Marie Animusphere, Lord of the Animusphere family and Director of Chaldea! She will not succumb to the heat! She will not be showing weakness when Lev comes and-!

She collapsed to the ground at her feet and sobs. Lev. Lev betrayed her.

Lev. The one man and friend she could trust and depend on. The only one who took saving humanity as seriously as she did.

And he betrayed her. Tried to kill her. Tried to force her to become one with CHALDEA, a fate worse than death.

No, Lev did kill her. Destroyed her body with his bomb. Cost her her Chaldea, her lordship, everything.

Lev.

Lev, WHY!?

She howls her grief into the unforgiving wasteland and sobs, feeling the tears and sweat trickle down her face, a bit of snot running from her nose.

She wishes she has ice-cream. It would make her feel better. And make the heat more bearable.

But Lev had even removed her ability to eat her secret stash of Cappanari ice-cream that she kept hidden in her room's refrigerator.

She was dead and she couldn't ever leave this place.

She is dead and will be alone forever.

No one will ever value her.

No one ever will compliment her.

She is alone.

* * *

 **A.N. Poor Olga. This might be a fate worse than death to be honest.**

 **Isolation in a place that has no human company. Being powerless and alone when she was only recently betrayed by her best friend?**

 **Having no chocolate ice-cream!?**

 **Okay, the last might not be a fate worse than death (because an inability to have chocolate ice-cream is implied by the condition of death), but on top of everything else…**

 **Oh, and people, don't get upset at Olga for caring more about Shirou feeling her up instead of saving her life. It is in character for her. Not to mention she just got bad news of someone's passing.**

 **Her own.**

 **Most people tend to react rather poorly to that…**

* * *

 **A.N. 2 This is it. The reason why I had Shirou stuck in Chaldea. To hit Flauros with Caliburn in the face. I had planned that all the way from the beginning.**

 **As I wrote this chapter until I split it into two, I realized that I could have used Shirou as a sleeper agent hypnotized into bombing Chaldea. So, some rewriting later** **(the changes have already been applied to previous chapters) and now Shirou's low resistance to mental magecraft has him as an unwitting bomber. As to why he doesn't join or obey Lev Lainur, it is because that wasn't what he was compelled/ordered to do. He was only forced into planting the bomb in the room with the other engineers and then the compulsion was reinforced in chapter 1 to have Shirou down there as well as to reinforce the loss of remembrance about what he had done. And the way I see it, Flauros had the time, power, and ability to overcome an unsuspecting Shirou's magical defenses. Like say, if Flauros and Shirou had the occasional interaction and Shirou relaxed his guard in familiar territory and around familiar faces. Or if Flauros had unrestricted access to the facility but potentially not the spare time in which to sneak down to a place while no one was there.**

 **Anyway, back to hitting Flauros with Caliburn to the face (for some odd reason I really like that term, 'hitting Flauros with Caliburn to the face'). If Shirou had been deployed to Singularity F, he wouldn't have had the strength to do it, much less intercept Olga.**

 **He would worn himself out against both Saber and Archer. Probably run out of Od or gotten knocked out against Saber.**

 **Yes, Shirou is powerful. Yes, he has multiple Noble Phantasms.**

 **No, he doesn't have Servant level mana or endurance. He barely has average magus level Od reserves. With Reinforcement acting as a multiplier, he _might_ have low Servant level strength and agility.**

 **And fighting against Shadow Archer and Saber Alter would result in him not being in good enough condition to fight Lev. And to be honest, Flauros is a foe outside of Fate Shirou's ability to solo even if he was fresh (or any other Shirou for that matter). And Mash isn't experienced enough to change the equation significantly yet.**

 **And then there is the list of the Noble Phantasms I could have Shirou use. Anything else would be difficult for Shirou to create off the cuff and still be potent enough to even hurt Flauros.**

 **Gae Bolg? Flauros isn't exactly human so losing his heart would be more of an inconvenience than life-threatening.**

 **Medusa's chains? Nope. Too weak against Flauros. Pass.**

 **Berserker's sword? Sorry, can't really see it being effective for the same reason as Gae Bolg. More annoying than useful.**

 **Archer's weapons? Maybe, but Shirou is from Fate route. All he got from Archer was a bit of advice and Kanshou and Bakuya. (And annoyance. Can't forget that.) And Shirou doesn't know enough about his foe to create a weapon strong enough to beat Flauros yet. He would need a pinnacle of specialized weaponry to even hurt Flauros without it being a Noble Phantasm.**

 **Excalibur? Too expensive for Shirou to project. And he isn't skilled enough yet to project a hollow image of it. Yes, he has a decade of practice. Still not enough skill to compensate for his lack of power, which lack of power means that trying would almost kill himself. Not to mention, it is generally agreed that Shirou can't project or copy Excalibur without something weird going on or dying just after making it. I bypassed it last chapter by having Saber Alter allow Shirou to replicate Excalibur Morgan into his Reality Marble (it was subtly hinted at but focusing on it would be a distraction from the events of these chapters) but even trying to use it would still be enough to kill Shirou after firing off one blast if he had only his reserves.**

 **Avalon? Um, it restores the user to health. It also has the limit that if the body is completely obliterated, it can't regenerate it even if it was functioning at full capacity. And its defensive option was expensive for Saber, let alone Shirou.**

 **An alternative usage is to put a copy of Avalon inside Olga when she was thrown against CHALDEAS. But contact with CHALDEAS means that you are dying for eternity. Regenerating while that goes on… that'll just make her death more painful as she heals all the damage done to her. And that would continue for all eternity. It sounds like something Prometheus could tell you about as he had an eagle rip out his liver every day only for it to grow back again. It would be more merciful to mercy kill Olga before she could hit CHALDEAS.**

 **If she used Avalon's shelter function, remember doing so was expensive for Saber. How much more so for Olga, who has mana reserves much smaller than Saber? And keep in mind, it would be cheap for Lev to throw Olga at CHALDEAS again. Not so for Olga to invoke Avalon again.**

 **Besides, Shirou can't project it right now and there isn't a current link to Saber for either Shirou or Olga Marie.**

 **Next weapon, Monohashi Zao, Assassin's sword? Nope, too weak. Excellent for swordsmanship and cutting swallows of varying sizes (including all varieties of African, Asian, or European swallows), but not well suited against Flauros's Mysteries right now.**

 **Gilgamesh's armory? Shirou only got a few weapons from it. I would estimate that this Shirou has under 60 Noble Phantasms in Unlimited Blade Works as opposed to either UBW route or Heaven's Feel route Shirou. Known Noble Phantasms are:**

 **Durandal: eternally sharp and holds three miracles. Could work… Except Flauros has enough power to rip holes through time and space and that was before he had a Holy Grail which right now, he is the closest person to. What would be to stop him from just trying to kill Olga again? Another Durandal? Aren't you running low on energy Shirou?**

 **And Shirou's Durandal projection is a rank lower in comparison to the original so the miracles are probably weaker too. And it would take a lot of power to kill Flauros, possibly more than Durandal possesses, even if it was the original.**

 **Herpe: immortal killing weapon. Could help against Flauros. Except, it wouldn't save Olga. Make Flauros mad, yes. Cause him to turn full demon and kill everyone there? Yes. Save Olga? No. Just the manner of death changes. At least, she doesn't die for eternity. Just flat out murdered in Fuyuki along with everyone else. Chaldea lost, Masters dead, world's over.**

 **Dainsleif: cursed sword that brings ruin to its possessor. I don't think this will help unless Shirou gives it to Flauros. And Flauros isn't holding an idiot ball. Thinks that Chaldea can't win, yes, toying with them for his own amusement, yes. Idiot? No.**

 **Houtengeki: a halberd, useful in battle. Not quite so against demons and magecraft**

 **Gram: Basically, another Caliburn, but with dragon-slaying. Also known as Balmung, according to the visual novel's Weapon Menu. Could help Shirou kill Saber Alter, but not so good against Flauros.**

 **Rule Breaker? Now here is something potentially useful…**

 **Against Flauros? Sorry Shirou, Flauros is too powerful to be dispelled like that, even if you did hit him with it. And you might just force him out of his human guise, which would make the situation even worse. But it would dispel the portal to Chaldea and release Olga. Before the enraged Flauros decides to attack. Result: Total Party Wipe Out. Chaldea never makes it to the first Singularity, the War of Evil Dragons.**

 **Against Saber Alter? Would probably revert her back to her normal Saber form instead of Saber Alter. Shirou might be able to get the Command Seals for her. But I don't think Saber believes in letting herself be stabbed with a Noble Phantasm dagger when she could cut you in half with her two-handed sword or blast her enemy to pieces in a beam of light. Also, Shirou nearly killed himself in Heaven's Feel trying to beat her in a sword fight and he was part demi-servant there (Archer's arm). And Mash isn't skilled enough yet to really help in a fight against Arturia. And Saber Alter's Magic Resistance means that Caster can't use magecraft as a distraction as nothing less than full power in an attempt to kill her would work. Furthermore, it also isn't in Caster's character to hold back against a foe he has to kill. Caster's objective is to win the Grail War, not restore the Singularity, so he sees no point in holding back against Saber.**

 **Also, Chaldea doesn't know about Lev. They think he is dead. And the few who know, think that the demon who planted the bombs is still in Chaldea. No one is expecting Flauros to be in Fuyuki. So, they will get blindsided by a fight after the Grail War finishes and everyone is already exhausted. If they knew about Lev, they might hold back some reserves for fighting him but they don't know. And I'm not going to make them act like they do know for no reason.**

 **Against Olga? Congratulations Shirou. While getting rid of the spell forcing her to go to CHALDEAS, you just dispelled the familiar body made of spiritrons. Olga is dead now.**

 **Against CHALDEAS? ARE YOU STUPID! THAT WILL JUST MAKE IT SO THAT CHALDEA IS NO LONGER SEPARATED FROM THE INCINERATION OF HUMANITY! YOU JUST KILLED EVERYONE IN CHALDEA! (And sadly, this is the most likely option for Shirou if he tried to save Olga. He doesn't know what the effect would be, but it couldn't be worse than Olga dying a painful death for eternity, right? (Facepalm.)) The other option is that CHALDEAS is simply too powerful for a C rank Noble Phantasm to overcome, even if it does have an advantage against it. So Shirou now is breaking apart and dying for eternity alongside Olga. If I were writing a tragedy, I might go for that option.**

 **Caliburn? Well, Shirou would like to use this sword, so it is in character. But after Shirou fought his way through Archer and Saber and is exhausted, he won't be able to use it to the best he could.**

 **So, the best this Shirou could do if in Fuyuki is use Rule Breaker on Saber Alter and then have her and Caster attack Flauros. Who then slaughters them all, as ha ha, guess who is worn out from a Grail War and who isn't? 4 vs 1 works better if the 4 aren't low on strength and the one is more powerful than any single servant. Also, it doesn't help that if either Saber or Caster dies, both die since the other is the 'winner' of the Grail War.**

 **Finally, it is not in character for them to do so. Shirou would try to use Rule Breaker. But once Caster understood what Shirou was trying, he would rebel (remember, Lancer didn't like treachery from his Master in Fate Stay Night so why would he be okay with it here?), resulting in 2 vs 1 vs 1 fight until Shirou manages to hit one of the Servants with Rule Breaker. And even then, both Caster and Saber Alter would be very angry with Shirou for him seeking to ruin their duel for the Holy Grail. And Ritsuka, Mash, and Olga would rather carry through with their promise with Caster to help him win the Grail War rather than capture Saber Alter. They don't have any attachments to her. Why would they care if Shirou wants to capture Saber Alter? It is a very risky tactic with no gain to them.**

 **Finally, they didn't know about Flauros until he revealed himself. They wouldn't use a tactic that assumes another foe beyond Saber Alter, the final boss. They have no reason to suspect it in Fuyuki. Saber Alter does, but she wouldn't say. It would detract from the final battle of the 5th Grail War and that is her concern. To use the Grail to save her kingdom (I presume? Alter doesn't ever say what her goal for the Grail is.)**

 **So, I have to balance a thin line between strong enough to oppose Flauros yet not so strong that he decides to fight seriously while keeping everyone in character.**

 **And then it occurred to me, what if instead of having them beat Flauros, what if Shirou attacked from across the portal? And that was how the plot for this story was planned out from the very first chapter.**

* * *

 **A.N.3 And the climax of the story is over! All that is left is the falling action, the conclusion and the set-up for the next Singularity's story.**

 **That being said, now is the time to reveal the change points in the story.**

 **First off, the story didn't have very much change as Olga is rather stubborn and Shirou could only affect Singularity F by his words.**

 **But the change started by Olga, Ritsuka and Mash's first destination be the Tohsaka Manor (where they find Olga). There, they converse with a hologram of Shirou Emiya out in the open. Where a certain hawk-eyed Archer who can count the bolts on a bridge from the top of a skyscraper could see from his position on the mountain.**

 **The next change was where they went next. Fuyuki Civic Center/Fuyuki Memorial Park. The second of the four places where the Grail could manifest. In canon, they went to the harbor before heading to the approximate place of the Church. This changed what Saber Alter and Archer thought about the Chaldeans. If they had gone to the port, then Saber Alter would conclude that they are still looking for the distortion and possibly not go for the Greater Grail. In this story, due to the change of destinations, Saber Alter concluded that they were searching for the Grail. And since her goal was to have the Grail by winning the Grail War, she concluded that she needed to prepare for hostile action _before_ the Chaldean group met Caster.**

 **So, in this story, she gave orders to Archer to prepare a plan to redeploy Berserker to the front of her cave in order to keep both Caster and the Demi-Servant out. Before then, she wanted Caster to come to her. She wanted to win fair and square and to do that, she needed to beat the other last remaining Servant who had been dodging her. In canon, she did that by leaving the Grail unguarded. This time, because there was another force, Saber concluded that she should get someone else (Berserker) to deal with the interlopers so she can prepare for her duel with Caster.**

 **After that, the break at Homurahara Academy instead of inside the cave system resulted in Archer getting enough time to prepare the cave entrance to put the Madness Enhanced but uncontrollable Berserker in. But when he left to go lure Berserker in, he had to do preparation because Berserker was much faster than him. Therefore, Archer needed to prepare tricks, cheats and shortcuts to outrun Berserker. Which took a fair bit of time before he actually encountered Berserker, time that Chaldea accidentally used to wander into the cave during the window that Archer was gone.**

 **Saber Alter had thought that Chaldea would either die to her Shadow Servants or investigate the Church, actions which would buy her more time that Archer needed. Instead, Caster got involved and directed them to the Greater Grail right away.**

 **After that, the story went parallel to canon. Saber Alter refused to not be competitive or to just give up. The wielder of the Ever-Victorious Sword is not one to give up as she doesn't like losing (a rare occurrence for her), nor does she like breaking her word. And giving the Grail up to Chaldea would feel like that to her without having a proper fight for the Grail, which she committed to doing. Her blackening didn't help as the main thing that could have stopped her from doing that, her morals, were altered. The other candidate for causing her to do that, her love and affection for Shirou, isn't there as she hadn't been Shirou Emiya's Servant for even 24 hours by the time the Singularity started and wiped Shirou Emiya out of existence. So sorry, no easy/quick redemption in this story.**

 **And to tell the truth, Saber Alter is a very hard character to grasp. She has the same ideal as Saber (source: Fate Grand Order bond profile entries). But she has different morals, methods, and fewer restraints as well as a preference for being heartless while in pursuit of the same ideals, which includes chivalry. Very difficult personality to grasp. Lots of writer's block while trying to write her. (Good thing FGO Epic of Remnant come out as I was writing this chapter.)**

* * *

 **P.S. No, Chaldea does not know about the Incineration of Humanity. Lev was going to tell them as he bragged and mocked but then Shirou hit him with a Noble Phantasm. Lev got infuriated and decided to not mock and before he could get serious, time ran out on the Singularity so everyone had to leave. He could have killed Mash and Ritsuka but dying in a temporal and spatial collapse sounds unpleasant so Lev had the natural desire to not suffer that in exchange for some anger venting.**

 **And thanks to shadyxlr and Eiskralle1 for beta reading this chapter. They caught several mistakes that I wouldn't have noticed.**


	16. Checklist 15: Don't Starve

**Oh, and reeseisthatbeast has made an omake for chapter 13. It is at the end of that chapter, if you wish to read it.**

Checklist 15: Don't Starve. Hungry Workers Work Less Efficiently.

 **Three hours later after conclusion of the First Order...**

Shirou collected his tray. Shepherd's pie today. Judging by the scent, it looked like they had added a secret ingredient. Shirou couldn't wait to try and figure out what ingredients they had changed or added. When he would meet Saber again, she might appreciate a good meal from her homeland. For nostalgia's sake.

Shirou turned around and stopped as he saw Lyudmilla Baran behind him. Shirou quickly stepped to the side to get out of her way. She was probably hungry and wanted a meal.

"Sorry," she said quietly.

"What was that?" Shirou asked, not able to make out what she had said.

"Sorry for accusing you," she said again, at the same volume. "You were used against your will. You didn't mean to. You were just another's tool."

"I'm sorry, I still can't hear you," Shirou repeated, leaning forward to hear her better. "Can you say that again?"

"That's all," she said at a slightly louder than normal volume before turning around, her shoulder length black hair flying up from how fast she spun. Then she hurried away, looking like she had someplace to be.

Shirou blinked after her. Then shrugged.

He didn't know what she had asked for and he had let her know that he couldn't hear her. If she was satisfied with what she had said, then obviously it wasn't meant for him to hear. She obviously hadn't been asking for his help else she would have repeated it loud enough for him to hear.

Besides, he had Shepherd's pie to eat! Which fortunately enough had not been stolen from any actual shepherds. Shirou would hate to eat another's lunch.

Today was a good day, Shirou reflected as he walked over to a cafeteria table. His eyes met Hooke who had been eating her own meal. She sniffed disdainfully and turned away.

Shirou noted that she was sitting alone, several tables away from anyone else. She didn't look like she got along with anyone and didn't want to.

But then again, most of the magi had died a few days ago so any friends she had were probably dead.

Shirou sat down at an empty table, mind reflecting on the recent hours.

After Caster had finished fixing the Fire of Prometheus about an hour ago, she had arrived at the Rayshift room and had spent a few minutes examining Shirou for any conditioning or mental interference left over. After clearing the spells out and releasing his suppressed memories that Lev had hidden from Shirou, Leonardo had given him a clean bill of health and proclaimed him free and independent if out of Od.

Shirou was no longer under an enemy's control. Not only that, he had saved someone from dying and life was good.

For him at least. Not so for everyone else who had died in Lev's treachery. Shirou's small smile faded at the reminder of everyone who had died.

He hadn't managed to save everyone. Maybe if he had been better at resisting mental magecraft, he could have discovered Lev's efforts before the bomb went off.

But then again, Leonardo had determined that if Shirou's Origin didn't leave him with an innate vulnerability to being taken control of, Lev probably wouldn't have tried. After all, Lev Lainur had chosen Shirou over someone who didn't have circuits and wouldn't have been able to resist at all.

As far as Leonardo could tell, he had chosen Shirou partly to have someone who could move around freely as they got closer to the exact date and partly to ensure that Shirou was down there when the bomb went off. One of the compulsions placed on Shirou had been to be near the power generator that day. If it hadn't been for that compulsion, Shirou might have been somewhere else, like say double checking lights somewhere else in Chaldea like he originally planned to be doing.

Shirou had been chosen as a tool in order to be discarded.

It was only his open circuits and reflex to manifest blades throughout his body that had saved him from dying by the very bomb he had planted. The shrapnel and explosion had deflected off the blades at the edges of his skull and ribs rather than cut through like it had to everyone else. The blades had been problematic but once inside the Bounded Fields of the infirmary and the blades removed, he had been able to recover.

Once again, he had survived. Once again, he alone had made it through something that had killed everyone.

He hated it about as much as he hated the Fuyuki Fire. However, the past was done and he was alive. The only thing he could do was learn from it, mourn the past, save what he could, and move on. And what he could do now was take a seat, eat lunch and discover what ingredients had been used.

"Oooooh," Roman sighed in relief he slid down into the seat opposite Shirou, his own shepherd's pie on his tray. The long-haired man smiled at Shirou in greeting. "I'm famished! How are you doing, Shirou?"

"I'm alright," Shirou said simply. A now removed compulsion to commit suicide wasn't worth mentioning. "Caster cleared me of the lingering mental magecraft so I'm my own person now. Also, Lev only used me to plant the bombs in his pre-selected locations. Caster thought that he might have been too busy to plant them without someone noticing after the date and time for the Rayshift had been chosen so he prepared the timer for the bombs himself but gave them to me to put into place."

Shirou had only placed two of the three bombs. Lev had placed the bomb in the control room himself and provided the bombs and prepared the places for the bombs. All in all, Shirou had just been someone else's tool for the attack.

Shirou clenched his fist that wasn't holding his fork.

That was wrong. It was just morally wrong.

Roman listened, taking his first bite while Shirou had spoken. Swallowing, the acting director said. "Well, at least that is resolved."

Shirou shook his head in disagreement. "It isn't resolved until we know how Lev either was possessed or turned and who is behind him. If they could do it to Lev, they could do it to someone else as well."

"Well, yeah," Roman agreed somewhat uncomfortably. "But that isn't our function. We just need to reestablish communication with the UN and Clock Tower and get whichever of CHALDEAS, LAPLACE, SHEBA, or TRIMEGISTUS is malfunctioning to work again. They can take care of Lev and his allies."

"One of them is malfunctioning?" Shirou asked, taking a bite.

Those were four of the big five inventions of Chaldea. The ones that Chaldea was operating on for the First Order. CHALDEAS for providing information about the present, past and future. LAPLACE, SHEBA and TRIMEGISTUS were all based around analyzing CHALDEAS as well as taking care of other minor functions.

If one of them was sabotaged or malfunctioning, then they had been lucky to get the Masters back alive.

"Yeah, they keep on saying that there isn't anything to detect. No human anywhere in the past 2000 years or even over the next year or two, much less for the next century. But of course, that is impossible." Roman shook his hand.

"Yeah, we are here. It should be able to detect us at the very least." Shirou agreed before taking a bite. "Do you need any help?"

"Yeah, but that is mostly down in the generator room," Roman said. "We have most of the magi looking over the four but they wouldn't know even half of the parts for a generator if it was labeled. Thanks for offering though."

"It's nothing," Shirou said. He not only didn't like being bored, especially when there was something he could be doing, but he wanted to help. "More for my own benefit really."

"Benefit- ah," Roman grimaced at the thought. "You know Shirou, it wasn't your fault. Just because someone overpowered you doesn't mean that you are responsible for what they did to you afterwards. You did your best, I am sure but sometimes life is just unfair like that."

"Ah," Shirou noncommittedly added. He really didn't want to talk about it.

Shirou looked down at his plate. He had been so happy over saving Olga and now this.

Olga.

"Come to think of it," Shirou brought his eyes up now that he remembered something they would need to worry about. "How are we going to feed Olga?"

"Just manifest the Reality Marble," Roman said dismissively as he continued eating. "Have food ready to be given to her. Should be simple enough."

"But I don't know how," Shirou admitted. "I can pull things from it easily enough but I don't know how to manifest it outside my body."

"It just requires that you connect a personal Bounded Field to the Reality Marble and have a picnic basket of food or something in the field. Keep it up long enough for her to eat it. It is not rocket science," Roman said easily before taking another bite. "Oh, and if you are worried about the food staying inside of her, it doesn't work that way. Once she has ingested the food or drink, ending the Bounded Field shouldn't take it out of her stomach or anything."

"About that-" Shirou sheepishly started.

Roman groaned and covered his eyes with one hand. "Why do I have the feeling I won't like the sound of this?"

"-I don't know how to make a Bounded Field correctly. Manifesting my Reality Marble inside a Bounded Field is literally the last step I have to completing it," Shirou finished, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "I think I can figure out how to flip between my Reality Marble and the world sooner or later, but I don't know how to limit it to a smaller area. Without limiting the size, I'd spend all my Od in just the first second and have it collapse the next."

Roman stared at Shirou, his next bite forgotten on his fork that was laying on his plate.

"How do you not know how to make a Bounded Field?!" Roman asked in shocked disbelief. "It's one of the basics of magecraft, isn't it? Or did that change while I wasn't paying attention?"

"Yeah, it still is," Shirou agreed. "But I'm rubbish at magecraft and my first teacher wasn't able to teach me much. My second teacher tried once but after I messed it up badly enough to badly damage her workshop, she postponed that lesson. We haven't gotten back to it."

 _Rin was planning on completing that lesson the next time I visited the Clock Tower_ , Shirou remembered. Hopefully, she wouldn't mind him studying ahead.

Who was he kidding. She would be extremely upset at these circumstances. Good thing he put in a good word for her to be a Master at Chaldea? Maybe it would keep her from killing him via Gandr sickness.

Roman groaned and hung his head, bringing both of his elbows onto the table while face palming.

"One of the most basic techniques of magecraft and the strongest expression of a Reality Marble and you don't know how to do it," his muffled voice said from beneath his hand covering his face.

"Sorry," Shirou apologized.

He just hadn't prioritized learning how to make a Bounded Field after his first mess up. He had chosen to learn other things like about the Reverse Side of the World and Avalon.

"Well, this isn't good, not good at all. But I guess that is the hand we are dealt," Roman sighed as he uncovered his face. "How about we have Da Vinci teach you? Shouldn't take long, she is pretty talented at everything so teaching should be on the list too."

"Sounds good," Shirou agreed. He would have to be a fool to not accept lessons in magecraft from a Caster Servant. Especially when someone's life was on the line. Belatedly, he remembered something he should warn Roman about. "Oh, but due to my alignment of Element and Origin, it might take me a lot longer than normal to learn it."

Roman frowned and closed his eyes, looking for all the world like he was dreading an oncoming headache that he couldn't avoid. "How much longer?"

"I don't know," Shirou said honestly. "It seems to be either multiplicative or exponential. What could take a genius a day could take me a week or two, possibly three, to learn."

Roman slammed his hands down on the table as he opened his eyes and yelled. "That makes things worse! We don't have weeks, barely even days! She'll die long before then!"

Shirou let the doctor ramble on and run the fear out of the poor man's system while taking bites from his pie. Some stress relief such as venting helped people and Roman was probably the most stressed of them all.

The lamb was especially good. Perhaps they had prepared it in a specific manner?

The doctor eventually noticed everyone else staring at him and abruptly sat back down, squawking an apology. A few relaxing breaths later, he opened his eyes, ready to continue.

"Alright, so no chance of time moving slower in there? Or being outside of time?" the doctor sighed before asking without any hint of hope in his voice. More of a resigned acceptance to the inevitable.

"Let me check. Nope, hasn't changed since the last time you asked," Shirou answered with a bit of sarcasm.

"Right, right. No need to be so mocking," the doctor continued, closing his eyes to better concentrate. "How long do you think she can live in there?"

"There isn't any food or water so three days, I think," Shirou replied seriously before hesitating. "Could we not insert food or drink directly into the Reality Marble? Like how we did Olga?"

"No," Roman instantly rejected as he pulled out his comm and started looking through some documents and files. "We need some resistance to magic. Too much like if Olga had resisted it and we would end up with her not being able to enter and getting stuck outside. Too little, like if it was food with almost no resistance to magic, then it will slide right past and end up somewhere else. We could try to enchant it but I don't know what trying to put dead organics into a Reality Marble would require. To find out would require setting up new experiments, which requires time, which Olga does not have. No, the only way is to put up a Bounded Field and use that area to enter directly into the Reality Marble. And as a magus she should be able to last a bit longer than three days but the Singularity has already drained her Od and resources. So let's get this done by the third day or else we might lose her anyways."

"I see," Shirou said, frowning. The doctor's logic made sense.

But now it was a race against time to see if Shirou could learn how to use a Bounded Field efficiently enough for them to give Olga time to eat.

While Shirou was a third-rate magus and had been for over a decade, learning new forms of magecraft was not his forte.

"We better contact Da Vinci," Roman said, worriedly, reaching out to his communicator on his wrist. "There isn't any time to waste."

Shirou nodded and hurried to finish his food.

He'd need the energy for the lessons.

* * *

"Okay, first thing we need to do is streamline everything," Caster said as she typed away at a virtual keyboard, her eyes firmly locked onto a separate hologram of text and numbers. "By that, I mean everything. Your diet, your sleep cycle, your work schedule and your medicinal intake. Since this is a long-term learning effort with a short-term need for results, your sleep is extremely important. Without proper sleep spread out at important moments, you'll take longer to learn the next step than we can afford. I've already sent you the documents containing what foods you'll need to eat and what recreational materials would enhance your learning in addition to everything else."

"Um," Shirou began as he realized just how busy the Servant was. She was multi-tasking on three different things already and was about to supervise his teaching. Would she be able to do all of that?

Also, just how controlling would she be? Sleep? Diet? Exercise? Medicinal intake? What next? When he pees and how long?

"Do—"

"The first thing we need is for an analysis of what you already know. See what you already know, what progress you have, and what you are doing wrong," Leonardo interrupted as she shifted to have a better view of Shirou. "Just create a small cube bounded field in front of you right now. Small, since maintaining your reserves and reducing the strain on your circuits is important. Ignore what you don't know, I need to see what steps you do know and how well. Begin."

"Wait, wait!" Shirou protested. "First up, do we have to redesign everything about my life?"

"Well, no," Leonardo admitted as she continued her work. "But if we control when I'm working with you, I can teach you while doing this" she nodded to the work beneath her "and everything else I have to get done. If I'm lucky and nobody else sets off a bomb, I can get back to my personal projects by the end of the week. My parrot was in the middle of an upgrade and I would like to finish it."

"Oh," Shirou realized. This was just scheduling. Taken to the extreme that not even Rin or any of her classmates at the Clock Tower would do. "Wait? Did you say you were upgrading a parrot?"

"He's beautiful!" Da Vinci gushed. "Using the better precision on Archimedes principle, plus a few motors, I can get him to require 1.8% less magical energy to fly 1.34 times longer all the while including new colors of feathers! Now make me a Bounded Field."

"And this will help us save Olga faster right?" Shirou asked.

"Yes," Da Vinci said resolutely. "If a slowpoke doesn't waste my time by asking redundant questions."

"All right," Shirou said, still uncertain about how this would work. But if it would help, and time was short… "Trace on."

The Servant's eye twitched.

"Nerve circuits," she said disgustedly even as she continued her work. "Why did you even— Never mind. You aren't using them now."

"How did you know I once used nerve circuits?" Shirou asked curiously as his circuits throbbed in anticipation of being used.

"I'm _the_ universal genius, Leonardo da Vinci," she said like it was as obvious as the sun in the sky. "Your body slightly tensed up like it was expecting physical pain. A proper circuit would only be spiritual pain but you had a physiological pain expectation focused on the spinal cord. However, your passive spiritual energy output is too large for a nerve circuit so you must have been using proper circuits. The only reasonable explanation is that you spent years training your body to use nerve circuits, only to switch over to proper circuits. If you had a crest, it could be possible for you to be using that instead, but you do not so that option was disregarded."

Shirou blinked at the accurate run-down from very slight clues.

"Um, yeah," he admitted. "Pretty amazing you got all that though."

"I am a genius," Leonardo puffed herself up with a proud smile. "Really, you should expect stuff like that from me, the artist of the Mona Lisa. A simple analysis like that is nothing compared to recreating the Mona Lisa. My body is a work of art, isn't it?"

The Caster twirled around, dress fluttering as she showed off her body.

"Uh," Shirou blinked at the rapid change in topic before asking in a bit of confusion "You created your body?"

Were all Caster Servants capable of doing stuff like that?

"Of course," Leonardo said. "Modeled it off of the perfect beauty. Wouldn't you if you could? Come on, surely my body is worth more than a few passing praises?"

"Sure?" Shirou asked, getting lost in Leonardo Da Vinci's tempo.

Why was she bouncing around from topic to topic so fast?

"It is beautiful," Shirou agreed, figuring that the Servant was fishing for compliments. "Couldn't tell that it was artificial at all."

"What would be the point of inhabiting an inhuman or ugly body?" Leonardo asked, looking at him like he was crazy before sighing. "You don't even see the mathematical ratios, did you?"

"Nope," Shirou admitted without shame. He had done okay in math class, but that was a decade ago.

"Must do your sword-crafting by instinct then," Da Vinci analyzed with a remote look in her eyes. "Except, you throw some borrowed experience at it and then act by instinct, relying on your Sword Origin to accomplish feats in your specialty that most swordsmiths wouldn't be able to even imagine. Well, I'll have to adjust the lesson plan for that mindset then. An experience-focused and intuitive mindset, not discerning of whose experience."

"Ah, right," Shirou shook his head to refocus on the purpose for them being here. Saving Olga by learning how to craft Bounded Fields.

"Now, time is short so let's get started." Da Vinci said before returning to work. "Chop, chop."

* * *

Olga had unbuttoned the collar of her shirt and had taken off her jacket for use as a cushion.

This Reality Marble was too hot! The sun shone down and baked her and there wasn't even a tree or building she could use for shade! The only things around that could offer shade was the big rock sword at her back and it was just as hot as everything else!

At least she had managed to tilt it over so that it actually gave shade now. Why did Shirou's Reality Marble have the sun straight overhead? Didn't he consider how it would feel to be inside it?

And why was everything so plain! The ground was rocky, cracked, and barren with naught but a distant mirage of green and a low hill and ridges. When she had been thirsty, she had walked towards the green image, hoping to find some water but it had never gotten any closer.

And then she had realized that the Reality Marble was a loop. She had passed the exact same sword and hill three times before she was convinced. The green mirage was not actually part of the world, just a distant illusion of life and water. It seemed that there was nothing that could live here and nothing did.

Honestly, with all the swords sticking straight up, not a single one on its side, it looked like a giant graveyard.

It was creepy. Like you could throw a ghost or poltergeist into here and it would not feel out of place at all!

Olga scowled while the sun continued shining. She was the ghost. She didn't want to be here at all!

Olga's stomach growled and she glared down at it before giving up. There was nothing to eat, nothing to drink and it was just too hot!

Honestly, there was nothing to do here. She couldn't work, she couldn't find food, her throat was parched and sore, CHALDEAS needed maintenance, her only friend had betrayed her, and she was stuck in this miserable excuse for a Reality Marble!

She sniffed as her nose still felt runny after her cry.

When were they going to get her out of here!?

* * *

 **Note that Shirou isn't leaching off of Archer's experience. He doesn't have the cheat to use Archer's experience to skip over the obstacles. He knows that his tracing is focused on his Reality Marble but not how to switch reality with his own marble. And even if he did know how, he would need a lot more energy than he has to do what UBW route Shirou did.**


	17. Checklist 16: Downtime is Training Time

**Ah, sorry. I realized that I had been sitting on this for a few days and forgot to post it. Oops. I blame life for getting in the way.**

Checklist 16: In Your Downtime, Enhance Your Ability to Work Better

"Servants, properly summoned Servants like Caster or Saber, are familiars after the type of Ghost Liners. They are commonly declared as the strongest of all possible familiars despite having more in common with summoned spirits rather than an extension of a magus. To manifest, an extension of the Heroic Spirit is pulled from the Throne of Heroes near the Root of Akasha and is given a Spirit Origin to possess."

Ritsuka stared blankly at Mash who had requested that they meet up in the library for their lesson on 'How to Be a Master'. Romani had felt that the less Ritsuka was able to embarrass Chaldea and Olga (primarily the latter) when he interacted with the future inspectors that were bound to come after the communication problem was resolved, the better.

The library wasn't what Ritsuka had expected. He had expected to see books. Instead there were numerous cubicles and hundreds of different screens of different shapes and sizes everywhere. Oh, and there were also several printers, devices and some strange machines that Ritsuka thought might be 3D printers or magical stuff.

Apparently, Chaldea had a digital library not a physical one.

"Um, Senpai?" Mash asked uncertainly as she slid her glasses up her nose. "Is there something you don't understand?"

"Yeah," Ritsuka nodded, feeling completely overwhelmed. "All of it."

Mash's shoulders slumped.

"O-Okay then. I'll just go get someone else, wait no, I can't do that," she muttered more to herself than him in her depression. "Everyone else is busy so I'll just have to do better. Um, is there something more basic than that?"

Ritsuka stayed silent as Mash thought to herself before she nodded in conclusion.

"Alright, I'll try again. Every being, human especially, that leaves behind a great achievement in the awareness of mankind, gets removed from the cycle of reincarnation and are sublimated into a being of higher rank. Those beings are called Heroic Spirits. When we summon a Servant, we make an indirect summon contract to the Throne of Heroes where a Heroic Spirit responds and sends a portion of itself to fill the vessel we prepared beforehand. That vessel is the Servant's Spirit Origin and it functions like a body with which a magus can make into a familiar. But since the Servant is like a cup receiving a part of the ocean, not all of the Heroic Spirit can come through. So only a part is available and that part is the part that bonds best with the vessel that was prepared. The vessels include the classification, such as Saber, Berserker, Caster, Archer, Assassin, Rider, and Lancer. Those seven are the standard classes and are further broken down into the cavalry classes and the knight classes but there is also the Extra Classes such as Shielder—"

"Whoa, whoa," Ritsuka protested, hand going up. "Too much! I can't get it all that fast!"

"Sorry," Mash apologized with a disappointed look on her face.

"It's better though," Ritsuka said, heart feeling pricked by her self-disappointment. "So basically, a Servant is a part of a famous person who became larger than life?"

"Um, yes," Mash said with a complicated expression on her face. "That is one way of seeing it…"

"And all humans reincarnate but if you manage to be one of those people, you no longer do so?" Ritsuka continued.

"Yes," Mash nodded.

"And we can summon those people? Like an Isekai except you summon a famous person instead of an average person?" Ritsuka continued.

"Isekai?" Mash tilted her head. "I don't know that word, sorry."

"Um, you know, the fictional genre where a person dies or is summoned to a new world and becomes very powerful with a cheat skill?" Ritsuka explained after a moment of surprise.

"Well, some of the Servants have been from parallel timelines such as the Third Grail War's two Sabers, so that isn't too inaccurate. And their skills and Noble Phantasms can change the world and provide significant advantages against their opponents. I guess we could call summoning a Servant as an Isekai," Mash continued, blinking before breaking out in a smile. "I'm glad you know a bit about it, Senpai."

"Well, except, this is real life and those were just fiction. I doubt it is too relevant. Probably only superficially the same like most fiction," Ritsuka waved away the praise. "And I don't know anything about the classes or Heroic Spirits so I appreciate you helping me."

"Right," Mash said with the bit of encouragement buoying her spirits up. "So we have the seven standard classes plus the extra classes. Each Class has a role that they fit into and the Servant manifests a facet of the Heroic Spirit that fits into that aspect. A Saber Servant would be different than a Lancer Servant even if they are based off of the same Heroic Spirit."

"Huh?" Ritsuka blinked. "How is that possible?"

"They are different facets of the same person," Mash repeated. "A Saber would be the part of the Heroic Spirit best suited to swordsmanship. A Lancer would reflect the time that a Heroic Spirit was at their best in using a lance or spear. For example, if a Heroic Spirit from Europe's Medieval Age had their peak in life for using a lance be several years before they hit their peak for swordsmanship, the Lancer would be younger than the Saber even if both were summoned."

"So, a Servant would be able to draw upon different parts of one's life?" Ritsuka scrounged up his brow. "Like one could be a child form or an adult form of the same person?"

"Yes, exactly!" Mash beamed at him and Ritsuka felt himself smile back.

"Um, what are the roles that you mentioned again?" the new magus asked, curious. "I remember Saber, Caster, and Lancer, but uh, what were the others?"

"Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker," Mash repeated.

"Saber, Archer, and Lancer I can get," Ritsuka said, brain drawing connections. "I'm guessing Caster and Assassin are mages and assassin? And Berserker would be—"

Both Ristuka and Mash shivered as memories of the rampaging giant flashed.

"Right," Ritsuka swallowed. "I can see it now. But why would a Rider be wanted?"

"I think Rider was the first one we fought," Mash said helpfully. "Riders are typically fast classes who ride powerful beasts into battle. Often, a Rider is the Servant with the most or strongest Noble Phantasms in a Grail War. But there are a lot of Heroic Spirits who break convention so the classes are more like an emphasis for the Servant rather than a neat fit."

"So every class has something in common?" Ritsuka analyzed. "Like how all squares, rhombuses, diamonds, and rectangles are parallelograms but each one is unique and some might not resemble it at all? Like the Archer who fought by throwing swords?"

"Precisely," Mash nodded in agreement. "By knowing the Class, you have an idea of what the Servant is good in and what skills they have but they might not use them like how you would expect. Archer was good at ranged fighting and had Magic Resistance, like his class suggested but he also was very good at close combat. However, each class has one skill that they have in common. Like every member of the Knight classes, who are Saber, Archer, and Lancers, having the Magic Resistance skill. The Archer class has Independent Action in addition to Magic Resistance. But Riders, who are of the Cavalry class, also have Magic Resistance along with the Riding skill. The other member of the Cavalry classes are Casters, with either or both Item Creation or Territory Creation, and Assassins who have Presence Concealment which makes it harder for Servants or magi to perceive them. The final class is Berserker who trade sanity for even greater power, which is reflected by their possession of Madness Enhancement."

"So what are those skills?" Ritsuka asked bewildered. "I remember Olga saying that Magic Resistance blocked magic but what does Riding do? Besides knowing how to ride a horse."

"Riding affects what vehicles and mounts a Servant can ride," Mash explained. "C and B rank allows them to ride most vehicles regardless of if the vehicle existed when they were alive. A rank lets them ride everything but Divine and Phantasmal beasts. A+ lets the Servant ride even them but not Dragons."

"So what rank would they need to ride a dragon?" Ritsuka wondered.

"Um, they would need a different skill or their legend to specifically include riding a dragon," Mash bit her lip. "I'm not too sure about it, actually. I don't know of any Heroic Spirit besides Saint Martha whose legend involves taming a dragon. It is theorized that if she was summoned as a Rider, she might have the ability to ride the dragon Tarasque. However, dragons are really rare so I doubt we will ever see any even in a Singularity."

"Shucks," Ritsuka cursed. He didn't want to curse near Mash as she had this sort of innocent air that he just didn't want to defile. Like telling a kid excited for Christmas that Santa wasn't real. "I really wanted to ride a dragon."

Mash just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Dragons are really scary, Senpai," she scolded. "They are the pinnacle of Phantasmal Beasts and are the strongest in every category. Their breath contains more magical energy than a high-class magus could produce in a lifetime and they devour humans simply by existing. Even if they don't attack humans first, why would you want to ride one?"

"It just sounded cool," Ritsuka weakly defended himself. "You know like in video games, you could sometimes ride a dragon?"

"Senpai," Mash said sternly. "This is not a video game. Don't do stuff that will get you killed because we do not have save points."

"I know, I know," Ritsuka accepted the rebuke before getting back into lesson mode. "So what is a phantasmal beast?"

"A Phantasmal beast is an animal who does not belong to any of the normal species, like mammal, plant, or reptile. Basically, the creatures of fantasy. They are further broken down into three categories, each ranked by the strength of its Mystery which corresponds to their age. The weakest is Monstrous and they go up to Mythical and then Divine. Monstrous can be taken as familiars but not Mythical. Divine Beasts however are so powerful that modern magi can not even hope to harm them. We are simply too weak."

"If we can't harm them, then what would have happened if we had seen one in Fuyuki?" Ritsuka asked. "Would we have to run like we did against Berserker? Are they that powerful?"

"I think so," Mash hesitantly agreed. "However, after the start of the Age of Man, almost all Mythical and Divine Beasts left to the Reverse Side of the World so we wouldn't encounter such. Just in case though, we summoned Servants to be prepared as Singularities don't conform with the usual rules. Servants have a powerful strength in Mystery so depending on the Heroic Spirit, they can fight such creatures."

"What is Mystery?" Ritsuka asked. "You say it like it is something different from a mystery novel."

"Mysteries are things that aren't assimilated by the human order, or widespread knowledge of humanity. It is the concepts, the unknown, that humanity has not mastered," Mash taught, trying to convey the grandeur of Mystery. "If humanity has completely mastered the concept, then it no longer has Mystery, yet if humanity knows it but still struggles to define it in context of everything else already assimilated into understanding, it possesses some Mystery. But if no one understands it, it possesses great amounts of Mystery. In the end, a magus is someone who studies Mystery and keeps it hidden and unknown from everyone else so that it stays a Mystery."

"So Magi are like scientists," Ritsuka said, things clicking into place.

"Not quite," Mash hedged. "Magi are opposite yet similar to scientists. A magus tries to learn more but keeps their research secret. A scientist makes it known to everyone. As a warning, asking a magus about how their magecraft works is a big taboo, so don't do it Senpai."

"So I can't learn magic then." Ritsuka asked feeling rather down. "A magus wouldn't want to teach me."

"Some spells and their associated Mysteries are only spread among magi and are widely spread at that. Basic things like Reinforcement, Welding back into the original shape, and Projection. But they are pretty weak, usually." Mash hesitated. "I think Mr. Emiya made a breakthrough in those fields in order to make Noble Phantasms. Doing something so powerful should be impossible but I don't know how it was done."

"And we can't ask," Ritsuka concluded glumly.

"He is a spellcaster so he might tell you," Mash said wavering. "But he probably won't and it is a bad habit to get into. Most of Chaldea leans a tad closer to spellcasters than most Magi as our objective is the perpetuation of mankind but we are still magi. The continuation of mankind is necessary for Magi to continue their research after all and Chaldea's resources for research is a big factor in why so many extremely talented magi work for us."

"Wait, what's a spellcaster? Are they different from magi?" He asked, somewhat confused.

"Spellcasters are magi who don't focus on research. To them, magecraft is a tool to their objective, not something to be researched," Mash explained. "That's why most magi look down on spellcasters. It is an insult to a magus to be called a spellcaster as it spits on their inherited knowledge from their ancestors that is passed down from generation to generation. And several magi hold that using a spell outside of research at all is a waste. There are a lot of philosophies on how to use magecraft."

"Insult," Ritsuka repeated as he noted it down into the notebook Mash had procured for him. "Got it."

"Also, magi have a very specific terminology that they use. You need to be familiar with it as they will look down on you if you don't understand what you are saying," Mash hesitated again before looking away. "And Olga would certainly kick you out if you embarrass her in front of the inspectors."

"She wouldn't, would she?" Ritsuka stated before realizing that Mash was serious.

"She actually has before," Mash leaned forward in a lowered voice. "One researcher offended a Pride, a high-middle rank magus, when the Mages Association sent an inspection team. Olga threw him out. Almost threw him out into the snow but she only sealed the doors behind him."

"Oh," Ritsuka realized. Maybe Olga wasn't joking about kicking him out? "So I should be worried."

"That would be best Senpai," Mash agreed as she turned on a terminal computer next to her and started typing in with a speed that dwarf Ritsuka's best. "Which is why we are going to start with a book about the structure of the Mage's Association."

Mash stood aside for him to walk over to the monitor.

"I got the books in Japanese, Senpai," Mash said as Ritsuka looked at the title screen. "Oh, um, I forgot to ask but did you want the books in digital or print? I mean, some people like to study on paper and for them we can use the printers, it wouldn't take a moment and we have a lot of paper-"

"I'm fine with digital," Ritsuka interrupted as he clicked one page forward. And blinked as he saw the page number 2/1342. "Um, how big is this book?"

"1,257 pages," Mash said. "If we exclude the glossary."

"I've never read anything that long," Ritsuka mumbled.

"You haven't?" Mash blinked in confusion. "Why not?"

Ritsuka stared in minute horror at the girl who thought of herself as his kouhai.

What did she read that she considered over 1,000 pages as normal?

* * *

Ritsuka panted as he got off the treadmill.

He was fit and he enjoyed playing sports and games with his friends. But Mash had wanted him to keep his fitness up so physical exercise was now a part of his daily routine.

"Good work Senpai. Much better than what I can do," Mash handed him a water bottle before hitting a few buttons including the one labeled 'SAVE' on the machine. "Why don't you take a short break and then we can start magecraft lessons."

Ritsuka brightened up as he eagerly gulped down the water. He had a capacity to be a mage! And while opening his circuits hurt, the ability to do magic was still exciting. If only he knew how. While the recruiter had filed paperwork, someone else had opened up his circuits, taught him how to make and use a trigger and then loaded him on a plane to Chaldea.

"Um, Senpai?" Mash hesitantly asked with a wrinkled nose as she held up her clipboard to her face. "Please make sure you take a shower."

Ritsuka blinked before sniffing himself and grimaced. Yup. He definitely smelled.

Half an hour later, he and Mash were in a different room, ready to begin. Or at least, after he had explained how little he knew to Mash.

"Hmm," Mash frowned. "So you basically know nothing."

"Yeah," Ritsuka nodded excitedly. "But I am ready to learn!"

Mash smiled a little at his enthusiasm. "That's a good attitude, Senpai. I guess the first thing to do is to teach you how to put magical energy into things. We have several Mystic Codes you can start on. Such as the Chaldea's Master Uniform."

"You mean my clothes?" Ritsuka blinked as he looked down at himself.

"Yes, our clothes are specially made for Rayshifting," Mash nodded. "Otherwise, we would be Rayshifted to the past without anything to wear."

"What?" Ritsuka blinked and then blushed as he imagined Mash without wearing any.

Hey, he was a teenager still. He still had his hormones!

"Only spiritual entities can Rayshift," Mash continued on, blissfully unaware of the thoughts Ritsuka was chasing out of his head. "So we had to use special materials for Chaldea's uniforms. After that expenditure cost, it simply made sense to pay a little more to turn them into Mystic Codes as well. Or so I heard from rumors. The default uniform has wound closure, flash air displacement, and sharpness reinforcement functions available. While you can use the functions repeatedly, it wears away on the material and reduces its effectiveness if done too close together."

"R-Right," Ritsuka said, once again focused on what Mash was saying. "So is that like enchantments or…?"

"Mystic Codes, Senpai," Mash corrected. "I don't think you got to them in your reading yet. There are three types of Mystic Codes, Amplifiers, which either amplify or store magical energy to be used in conjunction with a spell, Specialized, which when activated and given magical energy, perform the Mystery that they use, and Miscellaneous, which is everything else. The uniforms are in the second category so as to enable anyone wearing them to do certain Mysteries judged to be of the most utility. In addition, Chaldea's Command Seals can be treated as the first category, an Amplifier with tremendous magical energy stored. In truth, they are a Mystery and interface with the FATE system, not a Mystic Code but the method of activating it is about the same."

"Really? These?" Ritsuka looked down at the three red marks on his right hand. "Cool. So to use a 'Mystic Code'?" At Mash's nod, he continued. "I have to activate it by giving it magical energy?" Mash nodded again. "So how do I give it magical energy?"

"Um, in principle, it is pretty basic really," Mash fidgeted. "You run magical energy through your circuits and give it a purpose, which in this case, you just tell it to activate the Mystic Code. Normally, it can be rather hard. You have to invoke the Mystery in the right way or else it will go wrong. If done wrong, it can do some pretty nasty stuff, like kill you or ruin your magic circuits, or possibly even worse."

"Kill me?" Ristuka gulped. Well, no one ever claimed learning magic was easy. Or safe.

"That is why magi train for years," Mash explained. "If you understand the Mystery, it becomes easier to use. Or you use a Mystic Code that someone else made and use that instead and let it do the risky work of enacting a Mystery and you just provide the energy to power it. We're going to start with a different Mystic Code which is pretty forgiving.

"Namely, just plays a song," Mash brought up a wooden toy music box. "This is just a basic tool and doesn't do much but if you mess up, it shouldn't hurt anyone. Just tell it 'play' and it should start."

"Okay," Ritsuka nodded as he reached out to the music box. "But wouldn't the Uniform work as well for practice?"

"It could," Mash allowed. "However, if you do wound closure wrong, you might close a vein and cut off blood flow to a limb or vital organ. If you do flash air wrong, you could end up splitting someone in half. And sharpness enhancement might cut someone."

"Right," Ritsuka swallowed as Mash casually mentioned the different ways he could kill someone with just his uniform. "Let's play a song then. So I just tell my magical energy to go to the music box or Mystic Code?"

"Yes, Senpai," Mash affirmed submissively.

Ritsuka breathed in and imagined the sound and light of a truck rushing down on him and flipped his circuits on.

Mash watched attentively as he laid his hand on the box. "Play," Ritsuka commanded.

Silence.

"Not a bad start, Senpai," Mash encouraged. "Try to imagine it more though. You are reaching into yourself and persuading the magical energy to react. You need to believe it will work."

Ritsuka nodded and tried again.

* * *

Hours later, a heavily sweating Ritsuka could get the box to play one out of four times. If you counted over half of his successes as weak enough to start the box but not enough to play it above a whisper.

"I think this is good enough for today, Senpai," Mash announced as she took the music box back. "We can do some more practice tomorrow."

"Okay," Ritsuka inhaled as he closed his circuits and the magical pressure she was feeling from him lessened. "So, what about Command Seals? What do I have to do to use them?"

"To be honest, I've never used a Command Seal," Mash confessed. "I know the theory but I never had any"

"Why?" Ritsuka furrowed his brow in obvious confusion.

"Because I am a Demi-Servant," Mash confessed, feeling a tad uncomfortable. "FATE is designed so that a Servant registered to it will not be able to be a Master or receive Command Seals."

"Oh," Ritsuka looked awkward. "Sorry."

"What for, Senpai?" Mash tilted her head. It was for the best that she was a Demi-Servant and not a Master. "If I wasn't a Demi-Servant, I would be frozen with the rest of the Masters."

"That's true," Ritsuka admitted. "Thanks for that, Mash. We couldn't have done it without you."

Mash felt blood rush to her cheeks at the gratitude and she fidgeted but eventually she managed to nod as she didn't feel like she could find the words right now.

"So how do I use Command Seals? You said they are magical reserves, but how do I tap into them?" Ritsuka asked, breaking her out of her awkwardness.

"Well, let's begin with their history. The originals, Command Spells, were invented by the Makiri Zouken for use in the Fuyuki Grail Wars," Mash began, the history of Command Spells and Command Seals coming to mind. "They are a powerful resource that allowed a Master to give an absolute order to a Servant. In addition, they were extremely condensed magical energy.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't get any help from the Einzbern, Tohsaka or the Matou families so our Command Seals are lacking in comparison," Mash sighed wistfully. Some ancient magi just couldn't be matched by dozens of geniuses working together. "You can use them to power a Mystic Code or to insert a lot of power into a Servant but the builders of FATE couldn't match the genius of Makiri so we couldn't give the function of absolute orders to our Command Seals. Instead, they just act as a symbol of authority and powerful magical energy that resonates with Servants.

"The bright side is that FATE can give more Command Seals and that they aren't limited to one Servant." Mash sat up straighter as she felt pride in her organization course through her. "The coded limit is three Command Seals per Master, but if one is used, we can replace them if given enough time and energy."

"So I could have used a Command Seal to strengthen your Noble Phantasm when we fought against Saber?" Ritsuka asked as he followed along.

"Yes, you could have. While I dislike saying this, given that you knew so little," Mash winced alongside Ritsuka. She knew it was cruel and it hurt, but it was true. And by setting up a basemark for his lessons in magecraft, he would feel much more confident when he progressed to being able to use a Command Seal. But it didn't feel good to be the one to say it. "I figured that you might have struggled with getting the Command Seal to constructively resonate, so I didn't mention it while we were in the Singularity. And while the Command Seal is not dissimilar to capacitors in that they store and release a phenomenal amount of magical energy in one go, the nature of how the power is released is up to the Master. You can have it be constructive resonance which will significantly empower the Servant, or destructively interfere, which will destabilize the Servant's Spirit Origin."

At Ritsuka's look of confusion, Mash fidgeted. She needed to say it more clearly. "And um, destabilizing a Spirit Origin destroys its cohesion, causing a chain reaction of mutual destruction for both the expended Command Seal and the Spirit Origin, which will kill the Servant. So, I would appreciate it if your intentions with a Command Seal is constructive interference with me or my Noble Phantasm."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ritsuka blurted out, waving his hands wildly. Obviously, her joke had fallen flat. "You mean the Command Seal can kill you? Why would anyone want that?"

"Yes, Senpai, it can kill me." Mash admitted. He held the power of life and death over her. "It is Chaldea's option of last resort if a summoned Servant becomes dangerous to Chaldea. The Master will have a sure-fire way to kill the Servant as long as they have a Command Seal."

Ritsuka stared at his hand in horror. "I don't want this," He whispered almost as if he let his thoughts slipped.

"Or you could use it to make me much stronger," Mash hurried to say. "For example, if you had used it on me the first time Lord Chaldeas had clashed with Excalibur, we could have strengthened Lord Chaldeas so that it wouldn't have broken at all."

Ritsuka was still silent as he thought over what Mash had said. Mash waited patiently, letting him come to grips with the power he had over her. The power to kill and the power to save all on his hand in three red marks.

"So how can I make sure I never accidentally use it to kill you?" Ritsuka asked after a minute.

"Well, you have to invoke it first. Your intentions when invoking it will help a lot," Mash answered, relaxing a little. It would be a comfort to know that her Senpai could always help strengthen her whenever she was weak. "If you intend to help, you probably won't destructively interfere. But to evoke, just concentrate on the Command Seal, imagine the shape of it, and release it. You can chant an aria and then mention 'Command Seal' to make it easier. Same thing if you want to use the Command Seal for your own Mystic Code or a spell once you learn a few. I heard that if you focus on the bond between yourself and your Servant, it will help you give its power to a specific Servant."

"So, I just say a chant and mention 'Command Seal'?" Ritsuka double-checked. "Like I could just say 'Mash use this Command Seal!' or something like that and it won't ever kill you?"

Mash stiffened as Ritsuka spoke, waving her hands around and opening her mouth as she tried to stop him.

Only for nothing to happen. No flash of light, no sudden strange tastes, or feeling of pressure. Even the three marks on his hand stayed exactly the same.

"I don't think it worked," Ritsuka said into the awkward silence.

"That doesn't make sense. It should have- Oh." Mash asked, coming to a realization. She shifted in her seat a little, belatedly realizing what had gone wrong. "Um, Senpai, did you turn on your circuits?"

"Oh," Ritsuka flushed red in embarrassment. "Right, I'll do that."

But before Ritsuka could turn his trigger on, Mash interrupted.

"And, um, since Chaldea is currently having power issues, I don't think it is a good idea to use a Command Seal right now," Mash hurriedly put forth as she stretched an arm across the table, stopping a little short of actually touching him. Would it be rude if she touched him? "We don't have the spare power to regenerate a Command Seal without putting something offline."

"Oh, right," Ritsuka smiled nervously, running a hand through his hair. "Um, I'll wait to test it then."

"That'll be good, Senpai," Mash said with a small smile on her face. "I look forward to it. Your use of a Command Seal, I mean. I'm sure you'll use them wisely."

* * *

As the teacher and student, or kouhai and senpai, walked through the hallways heading to dinner, Ritsuka spoke. "You know, Mash."

"What, Senpai?" Mash asked before seeing Fou run towards her and stopped. "Oh, hey Fou!"

The strange fluffy little creature made a running leap and landed on her face. It wasn't the most fun to experience but she was used to Fou's greetings by now. Fou slid over to her shoulder and yipped "Fou," once to let her know he was stable and she could continue.

"Ah, you're so cute," Ritsuka cooed over Fou as he reached over to scratch behind Fou's ears. Mash couldn't as he was on her shoulder but Ritsuka could.

"Fou!" Mash watched as Fou puffed himself up in pride and contentment as he accepted his tribute of scratches and rubs.

"What were you saying Senpai?" Mash asked after a moment of waiting.

"Oh, I was just thinking," Ritsuka said as he drew his hand away, letting her to start walking. She hadn't done too much today but she was a little hungry. Her Master was bound to be hungrier though as he had done exercise and used his Circuits a lot more than she had. "I think I wouldn't mind learning more about Servants and how to support them."

"So you want to focus your magecraft on familiarcraft?" Mash tilted her head a bit and tapped the cheek away from Fou with one finger. "I can help a bit with that, some starting lessons at least."

"Yeah, familiarcraft is the name for supporting Servants, right?" At Mash's confirming nod, Ritsuka continued enthusiastically. "Like if I can power up a Servant or make them stronger with a normal spell, that would be great. I can't fight like you or cast spells like Caster but if I can be a support, that would be still be awesome."

"W-Well, I don't think I can help with that," Mash demurred as she looked away. "I am not that great at the practical aspects of magecraft myself and Palingenesis, altering a Servant's Spirit Origin, is high-level stuff. I'm better at the theory than the practical, sorry."

"Nothing to be ashamed about," Ritsuka disagreed, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know this stuff and while I have a headache now, it was interesting. At least the bits I understood."

"T-Thank you," Mash stuttered as they pair turned a corridor and saw Mr. Emiya ahead of them. Fou hissed quietly at the man, almost as if he didn't like him but Mash could only hear the animal's dislike.

"Emiya-san," Ritsuka called out in greeting before descending into some Japanese that Mash didn't know.

Mr. Emiya turned around and responded in a similar deluge of Japanese.

Mash turned between the two as they continued conversing in the foreign tongue, completely lost as to what they were saying, even as Fou seemed to arch his back in hostility.

Then Mr. Emiya waved at her and said her last name before switching to English. "Sorry about that, Kyrielight. We should have conversed in English instead."

"Yeah, sorry, Mash," Ritsuka bowed to her. "That was rude of me."

"No, don't worry about it, Senpai," Mash tried to let go past her. "You are Japanese so it only makes sense for you to be a bit homesick for your mother tongue."

"Still, it was rude of us to exclude you," Ritsuka insisted.

"It's alright," Mash tried to move on. "Um, Mr. Emiya, sir?"

"Just call me Shirou or Emiya," Mr. Emiya shrugged, the tall man. "You don't have to be that formal with me."

"Um, right, Mr. Emiya," Mash stumbled on before taking a breath to center herself before asking what she was worried about. "How is the work to get the Director out going?"

Emiya's face puckered like he had tasted something vile. "I'm making progress but things are a tad slow to be honest. Caster just released me for a dinner break and I am really hoping to get something to wash the taste of blood and fluids out."

"Blood?" Ritsuka scrounged up his nose in disgust. "That can't be healthy."

"It's definitely not on my list of top ten or fifty favorite drinks," Emiya said in agreement. "But the sole advantage of being able to keep on doing magecraft after I've exhausted my reserves makes it worthwhile."

"Reserves?" Ritsuka asked in confusion.

"Magi can infuse magical energy into their body fluids," Mash explained. "It makes for a limited way to give energy or to store it for later use if you think you'll run out. Or you can sell it to another Magi and make some money that way."

"Huh," Ritsuka said in thought. "I'll have to remember that if I ever need a little extra spending money."

"It can be risky," Mr. Emiya warned. "Some fields of magecraft can use blood or other things from your body and use that to influence or curse you."

"Oh," Ritsuka said as a frown crossed his face. "Like voodoo dolls?"

"That is one magecraft that will get stronger if they can make link between your fluids and you," Mr. Emiya agreed. "So what has our newest Master and Demi-Servant been up to today?"

The trio plus Fou entered the cafeteria, conversing about what they had done and learned.


End file.
